


WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A BEAUTIFUL SENIOR NOTICES A MISFORTUNATE JUNIOR

by whwsms



Category: Toaru Majutsu no Index | A Certain Magical Index
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comedy, Gen, Mystery, Pre-Canon, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-05-16 06:30:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 48,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19312537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whwsms/pseuds/whwsms
Summary: “But the connection between Kumokawa Seria and Kamijou Touma is still a mystery!” Just what might that mystery be … hmmm?





	1. Chapter 1 – First Day of High School Almost Ends in Disaster

**Author's Note:**

> AUTHOR PREAMBLE: Simply put, I didn’t feel like waiting anymore for Kamachi to reveal the connection, history, etc., as suggested by the closing line from NT Volume 11, so, on the basis of what I’ve picked up from the novels to date, and the Wiki, plus my own (*clears throat*) slightly distorted imagination, this is exclusively my own take on what that connection might be. It may be considered a prequel to my first story: “A Certain Search After Truth”, and set in the same AU; it has already been posted in full in the Toaru Majutsu No Index archive on Fanfiction.net. Again, except for any grammatical tweaks, will reproduce it word-for-word.
> 
> Except for any original characters and situations introduced within this story, all characters and situations depicted herein are © KAZUMA KAMACHI/ASCII MEDIA WORKS/PROJECT-INDEX.

January, 20XX

Once more, a new school year got underway within the sprawling metropolis located just outside of Tokyo, Japan, known to its inhabitants and to the world outside as Academy City. Notwithstanding its origins and history – some of it is known at present only to a select minority, and even less of that number are aware of its deepest, even darkest secrets – the seemingly perpetual cycle of educational progression carried on. There seemed to be, at least from surface appearances, nothing transpiring that has not been seen, heard or experienced before.

… below surface appearances, however, might reveal a whole different story altogether.

At this moment, the scene has, so-to-say, zoomed in to the main assembly hall within a particular institute, generally known only as A Certain High School. One of many dozens, if not hundreds of high schools to be found within Academy City’s District 7, it had to date no widely-acclaimed achievements to display, or deep-shrouded mysteries to be revealed to the rest of the City, or to the world-at-large, whether in the area of conventional education, or in the area of Academy City’s Power Development Curriculum. Currently, if one were to focus their vision and other senses into the assembly hall, they would appear to be witnessing the opening of the School for another academic year, inclusive of the welcome of a fresh crop of first-year students.

In somewhat typical fashion as has been done before, the new ‘first-years’ were all seated in the front rows of chairs laid out in the hall, facing the stage. Upon the stage were seated most of the School’s academic and administrative staff, together with some of the representatives of the School’s Student Government. For the moment, the typical welcome addresses and greetings were being put forth by the chosen speakers. It was all quite routine and quite familiar to the second-year and third-year student population, as well as the School Staff … perhaps even to the point of monotony.

However, in what a select few might, if they were aware of it, consider a peculiar shifting move of the winds of destiny, the apparent monotony was, momentarily but temporarily, disrupted by a minor incident … of course, the person or persons directly involved in the incident might take issue with classifying it as minor. Straight to the point, the routine activity at a particular moment was interrupted by a short, sharp yelp of surprise if not shock. One of the first-year male students suddenly rose from his seat, as did the three others immediately in front of, behind and beside him. A woman, wearing a track suit, her long hair tied in a distinct ponytail, presumably one of the Staff members, sprinted over at once to discover the cause of the disturbance, to find the one male student frantically rubbing his hair, which, on closer view, was smeared with a glistening substance, in which seeming fragments of some as-yet un-identified material was sprinkled. A shrill chirping noise from the high rafters above, together with closer investigation revealed at least to those in the immediate vicinity what just happened – apparently, a bird of as-yet unidentified species had somehow found its way into the hall and proceeded to make a nest at its chosen spot in the ceiling, with no-one being the wiser of the creature’s presence or intentions, until for whatever inexplicable reasons, the egg or eggs laid in that nest somehow made a one-way trip downwards to impact upon the head of the male student directly below.

As word spread via the first-years, even in whispers, the seated assembly inevitably caught wind of what just happened, and, as youngsters in every age are generally wont to do, the incident was met with a relatively quiet murmuring of giggles and chuckles, which seemingly began increasing in volume as more persons became aware of what transpired. It was probably only due to the approach of more staff members intent on restoring order that the assembly did not break down into absolute chaos. The track-suit-wearing staff-member had, in the meantime, secured a towel and handed it to the unfortunate (?) young man, who proceeded to, or at least tried to, remove the remnants of the egg(s) and content from his hair, while she in turn relayed to someone among those assembled on stage via her cell phone what had happened. If for even a brief moment the staff member who had initially come to the male student’s aid was deliberating whether he should be permitted to go immediately to the nearest washroom to clean himself up more thoroughly, a second later, that decision was irrevocably made a few seconds later by something else suddenly impacting on the chair vacated by the student …

Put simply, this time, it wasn’t an egg.

Of course, the tenuous hold on order broke apart instantly, at least among those in close proximity, as the revelation of what almost happened to the first-year student who already got “egged” spread from person to person. Sighing, the female staff member, resting her hand upon the student’s shoulder, spoke some words unheard by others close by. In response, the young man stepped back, bowed to the staff member, and proceeded to leave the hall, no doubt heading for the nearest male washroom. One or two flashes from cell phone cameras flickered behind him, at least until more staff members closed in to restore order among that section of the audience.

Proceedings for the opening ceremony had come to a halt, quite naturally, in light of these unforeseen events, which the second-year and third-year students observed with varying degrees of bemusement. One particular third-year student, however, had quite a different viewpoint from observing what just happened. Even among the chatter that spontaneously arose among her classmates and fellow seniors, this particular student … a girl … did not join in, but observed it all quietly and in a rather contemplative manner. After about half a minute, she rose from her seat, asking those around her to permit her to pass, on the pretext of her proceeding to the ladies’ washroom. There was virtually no objection from either other students, or the staff, so she proceeded on her way, quite naturally.

Roughly two or three minutes after being permitted to seek out a washroom, the young man who was the target of the egg bombardment, emerged from one of the male washrooms, having at least substantially removed the remnants of the egg(s) from his hair and face, as best as he could. He had no doubt removed his shirt and school jacket at the least to permit the impromptu clean-up to be done, so, to anyone who happened to observe him at this instant, it would be noticed that his hair was for the most part clinging together, although there were a few visible traces of a seemingly spiky hairstyle, that might be the first thing noticed by someone seeing him for the first time. Having emerged from the washroom, the young male student made another pass at straightening out his clothes, blissfully unaware that at that moment he was being watched. Specifically, he was being observed by the third-year female student, who had herself left the assembly hall after him. There were two washrooms (naturally, one ‘male’, the other ‘female’) outside of the hall, separated from each other along the corridor. It was not known whether the female student had actually used the ladies’ washroom, but at the moment, she was at the doorway, though she had not fully opened the door, so that, she was observing the young man, who, unless he happened to turn in her general direction, had no idea that he was being observed.

Having checked to see that he was at least (in his opinion) presentable enough to return to the assembly hall, he straightened his shoulders before softly, perhaps only to himself, uttering a single phrase, before heading back to the hall:

_“Such Misfortune.”_

At the sound of those two words, what might be described as an inexplicable phenomenon took place regarding the girl observing from the doorway of the ladies’ washroom. The pupils of her eyes opened wide. For perhaps a brief instant, her pulse rate sped up. She uttered a gasp, which was practically inaudible to anyone not in her immediate vicinity. Indeed, if there were any witnesses present who had some idea of her usual mannerisms, they would be surprised, if not shocked, to see the faintest tinge of pink upon her cheeks. And the preceding was a brief but apt description of the girl’s response or reaction to the words just spoken.

Roughly a second or more later, the male student made his way back to assembly hall. No sooner had he entered the hall and closed the door behind him, the female student emerged fully from the washroom. On the surface, and probably as most might judge feminine appearances, she was indeed a beauty … shoulder-length black hair secured by a distinctive red hairband, wearing the standard sailor-style school uniform, only with the standard short skirt replaced by a longer one, although that did not in any way detract from what possibly the average male would consider her fine physique, inclusive of a rather noticeable bosom. If one could observe closely, even at risk of being labeled a pervert or a lecher, it would be easy to spot that tantalizing gap between her blouse and her skirt, where her navel was clearly visible. Among her classmates as well as the second year students, she was viewed as a bone-fide genius who could display on occasion a playful attitude, but most times bore an inexplicable air of mystery … interestingly enough, she had no close associations with either her classmates or the other school students, except at the level of acquaintances; that air of mystery seemed to be an impenetrable force-field to some students (particularly the males) seeking to get closer to her than the acquaintance level.

The faint tinge of pink was still upon her face, even as she inhaled deeply, held her breadth for a few seconds, then slowly exhaled, as if she was attempting to re-establish her mental and emotional state before the male student’s utterance, moments ago. After seemingly getting herself back in order, she nonetheless permitted a broad smile to gradually form upon her face, before making a statement of her own, which for the moment, was only heard by herself:

_“So, … **he** did make it to our school. Well, it seems that my final high-school year is going to be an interesting one … very interesting indeed.”_

With that said, a certain final year female student of A Certain High School, by name of **Kumokawa Seria** … also known indirectly to many of the current student population as the somewhat legendary “Beauty-Sempai” … made her own way back to the assembly hall, in the wake of a certain first year male student named … **Kamijou Touma**.


	2. For Whatever The Reason, Some Events Are Inevitable

To borrow the opening words from a musical piece from the latter part of the 20th Century: _“What we’re gonna do right here is go back … way back … into time.”_ To be a bit more accurate, we need only go back approximately one year ago, relative to where this tale began.

One of many facts generally unknown by most of Academy City’s population was that, while the Board Directors’ primary function was to oversee and manage the overall running of Academy City, they were generally free to conduct whatever other activities or agendas they chose … provided, of course, that those activities or agendas did not encroach in any way upon the execution of the plans of the City’s General Superintendent; a person whom, so far as was known, no Director had ever seen in person or interacted with face-to-face. Moreover, unless two or more Directors chose to ally themselves with each other regarding any particular venture, each carried out his or her own business in complete independence of each other. In this way, it was perhaps inevitable that occasions came along where two or more Directors came into indirect or direct conflict with each other. How any such conflict may get resolved … well, that may be a story in itself.

In connection with the preceding fact, there were instances from the past to the present day, where students displaying exceptional intellectual capabilities were often scouted or recruited for employment or engagement by one (or in a few cases, more) of the Directors, oft-times regardless of their individual Esper ranking. In her own case, Kumokawa Seria, having just started her second year of high school, had seemingly breezed through the first-year curriculum (both standard as well as that concerning Esper Ability Development), even though her System Scan results to date classified her as a Level 0. It was primarily for such an accomplishment, that, very early on in her second high-school year, resulted in her being contacted by one of the Directors, specifically, Tsugutoshi Kaizumi, offering her an engagement position as his advisor.

During their first ever meeting and interview at his office, some interesting facts were initially revealed:

“Please excuse my saying so, Kumokawa-san,” stated Tsugutoshi, “but, notwithstanding your academic record to date, do you not find it strange that you seem yet to develop or manifest an Esper ability?”

“Once upon a time, that might have been a source of concern to me,” was Seria’s cordial reply, seemingly not taking any time to ponder, “but I would volunteer that, during my first year of high-school … maybe even in the time before that … there was something that suggested to me; there is more to this City than acquiring an Esper ability. Frankly, discovering whatever might lie behind that idea appeals to me, far more than attaining some sort of ability or power, Tsugutoshi-san.”

“Perhaps there is, as you say, something more.” remarked Tsugutoshi, “but at the same time, did you consider the possibility that, in your journey of discovery, where this City is concerned, you might discover something that, in another time and place, you might prefer that it had remained hidden away. I say this not as a jest, but in all seriousness.”

“I’ll defer right away to your being wiser than I am in the ways of the world, and likely even of this City, Tsugutoshi-san,” replied Seria, “if for no other reason than you have more exposure, and therefore, more experience in such matters than I do at this time. However, I’ll again volunteer that the fact of my being here for an interview already suggests that I may have already passed some point of no return, and that I probably have little choice but to face whatever I discover from this point on. Would I be wrong in that respect?”

“Your perceptiveness regarding such matters, is remarkable, as perhaps compared to your peers.” came back Tsugutoshi. “Indeed, your endeavors to look into, shall-I-say, the inner workings of this City, even before your high-school period, did not go totally un-noticed. In another time and place, possibly another Director might have contacted you, as I did, or even before me.”

“You’ll excuse me if I refrain from consideration of what another Director might do or say … for now, you are the one who has contacted me, Tsugutoshi-san, with an offer of engagement as an advisor. To be up front, the offer appeals to me, both from a financial standpoint, as well as satisfying my curiosity regarding certain things about this City. So, might I ask, where do we go from here?” was Seria’s response.

Seria’s reference to the financial appeal of being employed by a Board Director was not without merit, as it was common knowledge that Level 0’s within the City’s Esper Development Program generally received the lowest stipend, and said stipend was practically without regard to where they might rank in respect of their standard education. Accordingly, an opportunity to earn additional income was not something to be lightly cast aside, even though she did have her own standards as to how or what she would or would not undertake in that regard.

Without going into all the details, Tsugutoshi’s response was to invite Seria for a second interview at his home, two days later, where she was introduced to his wife. It was the second interview that effectively convinced Tsugutoshi to finalize the offer of engagement (as he revealed to Seria later on, he lived by the adage that there are times when a sensible husband will prove his good sense by consulting or getting the opinion of his wife on certain matters, even if the husband is the one ultimately making the decision on the matter). In fact, as their relationship developed from that point on (over time, Seria became an infrequent visitor to their home), Mrs. Tsugutoshi acted at times like an older sister (if not a second mother), who seemed to enjoy teasing Seria at times, regarding her seeming lack of interest in the opposite gender. For what it was worth, and being an elder sibling herself, Seria at least took that teasing in good style.

Their first conversation ever along that line generally went like this:

“Oh my, … perhaps it’s just recollection of my own teenage years, Seria-chan,” intoned Mrs. Tsugutoshi courteously, while not even trying to disguise a playful tone in her voice, “but it’s rather curious that a healthy young lady as yourself doesn’t seem interested in obtaining a boyfriend … even if I would recommend you might hold off certain things until you’ve reached adulthood.”

In a similar courteous fashion, Seria’s response was: “I’m sure that it’s not a case of my being interested in or attracted to girls, Tsugutoshi-obā-san … it’s simply that, up till now, there is no boy or young man who I’ve encountered who seems to stir such an interest in me. I trust my own instincts that, if ever something like that should occur, I’ll recognize it when it does.”

 

From the beginning of her engagement, and aside from guiding her into the revelation of some if not all of the deepest secrets of Academy City (or at least those that were known to him), Tsugutoshi also gradually raised Seria’s awareness of the existence of what could best be described as Academy City’s Dark Side, noting that its influence was ever-present, despite the probability that most of the City’s inhabitants might never have a direct encounter with it all their lives. And, to put it mildly, the discovery of some of what was contained in the Dark Side was, to say the least, disturbing. Of course, Tsugutoshi had all intentions of providing a reasonable level of disclosure of these inner workings of the City, including awareness of the Dark Side, which would better enable and empower Seria to act as his advisor, but he was wise enough to realize that any sort of unrestrained full-on exposure could not only amount to sensory overload of an unpleasant kind, but could actually attract attention from those who were more actively involved in the Dark Side, and who had their own ways and means of responding to anyone who may be looking rather closely at them. On one occasion, when she asked why does the Dark Side exist, or is even permitted to exist, Tsugutoshi’s simple response was: “Its existence seems to serve the plans and purposes of the City’s General Superintendent, in ways of which only he, or she, might know.”

It is worth keeping in mind that Tsugutoshi himself would be the first to concede (at least to anyone he held in a position of trust) that he was by no means “squeaky-clean” in his relatively long life of business; nonetheless, there were some lines he absolutely refused to cross. For better or for worse, the same could not be said for all of the other Directors. Granted the position of a Director of Academy City was a very lucrative position for any individual to occupy, in order to maintain said position, the individual Directors generally did not, so-to-say, reveal any signs of their various animosities towards each other for the view of the general public. Behind the cover of their exterior facade, however, it was a fair statement that each Director kept an eye upon their fellow Board members, if for no other reason than to be on the lookout for any sign of activity that could pose a hindrance to their own private agendas.

It is also worth noting that, in another time and place, Seria’s own investigations into the deeper workings of the City, while she was merely a student, and before her being recruited by Tsugutoshi, could have brought upon herself unfortunate consequences, as it was another fact unknown to the general population, that, if someone was somehow getting close to certain things that, in the judgment of certain individuals, perhaps should not be revealed, it was then that one or more elements from the City’s Dark Side were set into action to (so-to-say) stop the research before it went further. If the searcher targeted by the Dark Side did not desist their endeavors upon the first approach, then a second ‘intervention’ sooner or later took place … in most instances, there was no need for a third.

While not the only example of the levels to which the City’s Dark Side could, so-to-say, descend, the most striking example uncovered early on was the existence of the Kiharas, simply described as a family who were famous for their various scientific pursuits over the course of their time in the City, but equally if not more infamous for their complete disregard for anything that might constitute human rights, morality, or even any regard for life itself, in the course of those pursuits. Accordingly, Seria received a firm advisory from Tsugutoshi that contact or even confrontation with the Kiharas should be avoided at all costs. It did took some effort to disregard her innate curiosity, but Seria’s paying heed to her employer’s advice did its work in preventing her from inevitably becoming another statistic of unexplained “incidents”, which, although they were not common topics of interest among the masses, they existed.

It was in all likelihood for the reason of her becoming aware of the Dark Side and what was contained therein, that, on her employer’s advice, Seria sought from that day onward to maintain, for want of a better term, a bit of distance from her classmates, and people around her in general. It was certainly not a case of her seeking to totally cut herself off from human contact around her, or seeking to set herself upon a pedestal above all others, but it was more of a preventative measure to minimize if not eliminate the possibility of others somehow getting even indirectly enveloped into matters which should not concern them in the slightest. In terms of persons who could be considered as close to her, there remained her younger sister, Maria, who was herself a maid-in-training at Ryouran Maid School, as well as a budding martial artist, so Seria had only a marginal concern regarding Maria’s ability to look after herself, but of course, it was better to take no chances where Academy City’s Dark Side was concerned. As for herself, while she was by no means a serious student of any martial arts, she had some knowledge of self-defense techniques, which, to date she never had cause to put them to the test “in the field”, yet her training, so-to-say, gave her a self-confident mindset that, thus far, succeeded in deterring anyone observing her from the outside from considering her an easy mark for any sort of unwelcome activity. There was also, for want of a better term, the presence of “something else”, … but that is perhaps a topic for another time.

Notwithstanding, in spite of Seria’s efforts to indirectly shield others from getting indirectly caught up in that to which she had gradually become connected, it was either purely a matter of chance, or for those who don’t subscribe to chance or coincidence, possibly the working of factors outside of her comprehension, that led to a certain event taking place roughly a month after her engagement as Tsugutoshi’s advisor. On first glance, an onlooker might have classified what transpired as a singular occurrence, which would, on another occasion, fade into history without leaving any trace of its existence.

 

The setting was at one of many cafe-type establishments within the Underground Mall. It was not a school day, so that, unless anyone had previously-scheduled activities that day, the student population was generally free to spend that day as they wished, of course within the limits of the established curfew times, after which all students, except those who had the requisite permission, were expected to be in their dorms. On this particular day, having decided to neither be cooped up in her dormitory, nor spend time at the school, Seria had opted to spend her free time, as it was, at said cafe, although she had brought a laptop device with her, with which to press on with her own advisory activities, as well as her own school work.

The cafe in question had as its seating arrangements for its customers a range of booths; some for two occupants, others capable of seating up to six. Notwithstanding her being by herself, Seria had upon her arrival, taken up one of the six-seat booths, before ordering a simple beverage. For approximately an hour, things proceeded quietly and without incident or disturbance of any kind. Suddenly, said relative peace was interrupted as, a little way across from her, a teen-aged boy and girl (presumably a couple) were looking for a two-seat booth, but at the moment, all such booths were occupied by at least one person. The waitress who accompanied them seemed to be getting a bit agitated in being put on the spot as she was, which was not aided by the two teenagers seeming insistence on getting the particular booth they wanted. All of this was given a mere glance by Seria, who was not particularly interested in the matter.

It was at that moment that a hand belonging to the occupant of one of said two-seat booths slowly rose into the air, to catch the waitress’s attention. As she headed over to that booth, with the teenage couple following closely behind, the owner of the raised hand spoke a few words to the waitress. While the exact wording could not be discerned, it seemed that the person seated there offered to give up their place in said booth to accommodate the couple. After recovering from her surprise (her eyes opened wide at the realization), the waitress, her flustered countenance now replaced with a beaming smile, thanked the person, who then proceeded to gather up their various paraphernalia, to place them into (presumably) a school-bag. Once that was accomplished, the former booth occupant, who turned out to be a young man, wearing the uniform of a middle school, stepped clear of the booth. After wiping down the table and seats in the customary manner, the waitress invited the couple with her to be seated, who proceeded to do so immediately.

Such a display of willingness to help a total stranger might have gone un-noticed by most of the establishment’s customers. Perhaps a few of them who took notice for a moment might have thought to themselves, or muttered under their breadth, that the young man shouldn’t have given up his seat, just to accommodate the teenage couple, who, if anyone paid close attention, seemed not to acknowledge the young man’s action themselves either by word or gesture. Almost not surprisingly, there was one person present in the cafe at that moment, who not only took note of what went on, but did so with a hint of curiosity. The young man seemed not the least bit disturbed or perturbed that only the waitress seemed to acknowledge his gesture. A few seconds later, the waitress’s smile seemed to fade as, upon looking around, she realized that there were no other two-seat booths for the young man to move to. That realization was, albeit hesitantly conveyed to the young man, who, however, did not seem to make much of an issue about that, except for shrugging his shoulders in response.

Something, which at that moment, might be considered inexplicable, (again, for want of a better term) clicked within Seria, so that, before she took a moment to even consider what she was about to do, she raised her own hand, thus catching the waitress’s attention. Beckoning the young man to follow her, the waitress moved over to the booth were Seria was the lone occupant.

“Excuse me, waitress-san.” stated Seria in a polite tone, “but, I presume that there are presently no free two-seat booths for the young man behind you who just gave up his. If he has no objection to it, you are welcome to offer him the seating on the opposite side of this booth.”

Upon hearing that, the waitress relayed the offer to the young man, who, after seemingly pausing for a second, stated simply: “It’s fine.”, at which point, he was directed to sit in the opposite side of the booth. It did not escape Seria’s notice … although on reflection, she pondered whether she would have paid attention to it on another occasion … the young male student said to her: “Excuse the intrusion.” before sitting down. After settling in, he placed an order for a drink, which the waitress then departed to fulfill.

Taking a moment to glance at the couple who now occupied the booth, before glancing at the young man now seated opposite her, something prompted Seria to ask: “Please excuse my asking, but … do you believe you did the right thing by giving up your spot to those two?”

In response, the young man turned to observe the couple, who were facing each other, with smiles on both their faces, even if their exchange of words could not be heard; almost naturally, Seria’s eyes turned to see the same thing as well. Turning away, and looking Seria directly in her face, he replied to the question: “I probably have no other way to describe it, … except they’re both smiling, and if it took my giving up my seat to help cause that, it’s good enough for this Kamijou-san.”

“Kamijou-san, … your surname, I presume?” Seria came back almost immediately.

“Ah, … we’ve not introduced ourselves, have we?” the young man sheepishly replied, scratching his cheek. “My apologies … this final-year middle-school student before you goes by the name, Kamijou Touma.”

“And in turn, this second-year high-school student bears the name, Kumokawa Seria.”, she responded in similar manner, finding the sequence by which they introduced themselves to each other strangely amusing, yet at the same time, quite comfortable. After a second, she continued: “But at the least, doesn’t it bother you that, those two did not thank you for, or even acknowledge your giving up your place, as you did?”

Seeming reflecting on his actions, Touma responded after a few seconds: “It’s fine, … I didn’t do that to get thanks or acknowledgment, from them or anyone else. Moreover, I don’t need a reason to help someone ... if I see someone needing help, and as long as I can do something about it, I’ll do it.”

Interestingly enough, her relatively brief time up to now as Tsugutoshi’s advisor and her introduction to the City’s Dark Side had already began to color Seria’s perceptions, so that she exhibited a fair measure of caution against virtually anything that came her way. Incredible as it may seem, Touma’s remark (figuratively speaking) struck Seria’s recently-established outlook on the world and this City, with not only its simplicity, but also a seeming complete absence of guile or duplicity. To be blunt, she found that, to say the least, fascinating.

Even as she was still mentally re-visiting Touma’s statement, and could still find nothing suspicious or under-handed about it, the waitress had in the meantime returned with a glass upon a tray (said glass in the shape of a beer mug with a handle); presumably containing the drink he had ordered. Having arrived, she then proceeded to first place a coaster upon the table in Touma’s vicinity, before depositing the glass upon it. However, this was one of those occasions where the glass would not make a successful landing. Inexplicably, and while in mid-air, the handle of the glass separated itself from the body of the glass, with rather predictable results. Seria had her laptop in her lap, plus whatever other objects she brought with her in a bag by her side, so that she escaped virtually unscathed. Not so fortunate was Touma; the glass, upon falling to the table surface, tipped over in Touma’s general direction, with the result that his pants were swiftly drenched with the glass’s contents. The only thing that could be considered fortunate in his case about what happened was that a few papers which Touma had momentarily laid upon his side of the table, were each contained in a plastic sleeve (all his other paraphernalia was lodged in his bag). Being so protected, those papers, together with the contents in his bag, were not impacted by the spill. In addition, the glass cracked upon impacting the table, but at least did not break apart or shatter.

After about one or two seconds, the waitress, momentarily still grasping the handle of the glass, seemed to finally register what just happened, before her face twisted into a seeming mask of shock and horror at what had befallen a guest, and one who had earlier helped her out of an inconvenient situation. With a short, sharp cry: “Aahh!”, she immediately did her best to wipe up the beverage that had landed upon the table surface, all the while apologizing profusely. Perhaps only those other cafe patrons in the immediate proximity had any idea of what had happened … although, the couple who now occupied the booth Touma had vacated seemed caught up in their own world, so as to pay little attention to their surroundings.

It was here that this young male student, so-to-say, raised the bar of mystery about himself further in the presence of the female high-school student sitting opposite him … Seria had genuinely expected at that point to witness an angry outburst from Touma, and there was probably no-one who could or would object to his doing so. Yet, even though irritation, disappointment and probably other negative emotions showed clearly on his face, he held his peace for the most part; at one point, simply asking if the cafe had a washroom, where he could at least try to clean himself up. Once she had regained a measure of her composure (for a while, she looked as if she would burst into tears at any second), the waitress directed him immediately to the washroom.

Before actually leaving, Touma sheepishly made a request to Seria: “Sorry for asking, but could you keep an eye on my things until I return, Kumokawa-san?”

“Uh, … sure; you go on ahead and deal with your immediate problem, Kamijou-san.” Seria replied almost automatically.

 

For the few minutes or so while she was the lone occupant of the booth, Seria’s glance happened to fall upon the sleeved papers Touma had left upon the table. For some unknown reason, she reached over and carefully picked up the top-most sheet as if to more clearly view its contents. As her eyes scanned the page and its contents, she suddenly froze in place, as if something caught her eye. After said moment, and again for reasons unknown at the moment, she carefully removed the page from its jacket, swiftly pulled out her phone and, after glancing about to make sure that Touma was not on his way back to the booth, took a picture of the page. Having done so, and re-inserting the page into its jacket, she placed it back among the pile, seemingly in the place and position where she picked it up.

Within about a minute or so afterwards, Touma had made his return to the booth; a tell-tale patch of dampness visible on his pants, otherwise, he seemed unscathed by what had taken place.

“Sorry for inconveniencing you like that.” Touma stated, with a noticeable hint of melancholy in his voice … at the sound of which, something stirred within Seria; probably at the moment, she knew not what. “I was able to clean up here as best as I could, but it’s probably better I head back to my dorm to do some un-scheduled laundry work.”

“If I may, Kamijou-san” volunteered Seria, in an impromptu attempt to perhaps bolster his spirits, “At least the manager should offer to pay for either having your clothes professionally cleaned, if not replaced, depending on what that drink might do to them.”

Reaching for his shirt pocket, Touma momentarily withdrew a folded slip of paper and held it up, before setting it back. “Oh, he did make an offer … but I’ll only use it if my own efforts don’t work.” After pausing to gather up his belongings, and before departing, he made a final remark, with a slight smile on his face and a nod: “Well, I can’t say for certain whether we’ll run into each other any time soon in a city of over two million or more students, but … for what it’s worth, take care of yourself, Kumokawa-san.”

Scarcely noticing a strange, almost tingling feeling traversing her face, Seria replied; again, almost automatically: “Same to you, Kamijou-san.”

On his way out, Touma was met again by the waitress and a seemingly middle-aged man (presumably the manager of the cafe). A few words seem to be exchanged, too far away to be heard by anyone else, but Seria could not help conclude that the young man still displayed no animosity, grudge or ill-feeling, with which another might lash out in anger or frustration at all that had transpired. There was, inexplicably, something else that caught her keen eye; even as Touma left the cafe, the waitress seemed to stand in a daze for a few seconds, until the manager, laid a hand upon her shoulder, as if to “bring her back to reality”. Upon doing so, she started, then turned around, presumably to resume her duties, but not before Seria noticed, from even that considerable distance, the waitress’s face was flushed. It was something that, unless one was observing the scene specifically, might have otherwise gone un-noticed. At this point in her life, Seria had virtually no first-hand experience in, shall-we-say, “matters of the heart”, but she had observed similar reactions and responses among her classmates during her middle-school years and even during her first year of high-school.

_“Hmm, … that’s at least interesting; I’m now wondering whether Kamijou-san has some sort of ability to charm females?”_ thought Seria to herself, upon reaching her conclusion. At this point in time as Tsugutoshi’s advisor, she did not have access to the information network level commonly assigned to the Board Of Directors, so there was no legitimate way to find out for herself whether Kamijou Touma had any such ability, or any ability for that matter. Within a few seconds, something prompted her to reach for her phone and bring up the picture she had taken earlier. After a few moments of trying to view the picture on her phone screen, Seria brought out her laptop and, after a few more seconds, transferred the picture over, so that it could be viewed on a relatively larger screen.

On viewing the same picture on her laptop, something that caught Seria’s eye when she first took a glance at presumably Touma’s study materials was confirmed. The information contained on the page she recognized as a part of the Power Development Curriculum course material for final-year middle-school students, which she herself had been through in her own time. Yet, the contents of that page varied significantly from what she recalled of her own course of study.

_“Kumokawa, you seem to have stumbled upon something very peculiar, here.”_ thought Seria to herself. _“As I recall, the Curriculum’s study material is the same across the board for all students. So why is there something in Kamijou-san’s possession which varies in a vastly different direction?”_

Suddenly, the second-year high-school student had a bit of an epiphany:

_“Hold it, … why am I getting like this over a boy, and one I’ve only met today? Granted, it could be argued that they were interrupted before we could exchange details like identifying the schools they attended, or other things that persons meeting for the first time might disclose ...”_ was the thought that suddenly popped into the forefront of Seria’s mind, even as she settled her bill with the cafe.

At that point, the streak of curiosity which was a part of her nature was, for want of a better term, shifted back into high gear. Even as she gathered up her own belongings to take her leave of the cafe, Seria had made a decision, there and then. A moment or so later, she answered her own unspoken question: “No matter; there’s something interesting, if not mysterious about this young man named Kamijou Touma-san, and even if he himself has no knowledge or awareness of it, I’m going to find out what that is.”

On her way out and back to her own dorm, another thought flashed into Seria’s mind, accompanied by a grin: _“I dare say you and I will run into each other again, Kamijou Touma, … even amongst a city of, as you said, over 2 million or more students. And it’s very likely our next encounter might be rather … interesting.”_

 

At almost that exact moment, in the Tsugutoshi residence, Mrs. Tsugutoshi paused in the middle of her present activity, almost as if she was tuning into something, before a smile appeared on her own face. As she resumed her particular task at hand, she had a thought of her own, with her smile still present: _“I’m certain I just felt something concerning Seria-chan … I won’t press her about it, unless she takes too long to disclose it.”_


	3. The Trek Deep Down Into The Rabbit Hole

“Excuse me, … did I hear you correctly?”

“Sure you did … a gorgeous babe like yourself probably won’t miss anything by skipping the morning period, or one school day for that matter. You should come hang out with us; we’ll take real good care of you.”

The exchange just taking place a few moments ago, was, for better or for worse, nothing new in Academy City, or for all that is known, anywhere else. In the specific case of Academy City, probably arising out of the seemingly slow pace of esper development (the reason or reasons for that would be a subject to explore another time), it should be no surprise that there were some who gradually gave up on following the path of the average student. Gradually, these persons began cutting classes, eventually dropping out of their particular schools altogether. The usual recourse for most of those who went that far was inevitably to join up with one of the gangs of delinquents, who would oft-times seek to prey on the supposedly weak and defenceless for survival, or in a few cases, become the oft-times disposable field-soldiers (for want of a better word) working for certain unsavory activities which were present even in this City of Science. It is also not inconceivable that some of these activities served as a possible entry-door (albeit at probably the lowest level) to the City’s Dark Side.

In this instance, the exchange was taking place between two strapping young men on the one hand; their clothing and mannerisms pointed towards their being two of many of the so-called delinquents previously referred to, and a certain second-year female high-school student. On this occasion, they sought to try their luck at intimidating the first girl or young lady they happened to encounter, particularly if the young men supposed that whoever they went after would be an ‘easy target’, into going along with their not-so-pleasant whims.

After a moment or two of hearing the veiled threat directed at her by the pair, Kumokawa Seria calmly closed the booklet she was holding in one hand, before looking straight into the eyes of the young men before her. Her facial expression and posture were, for want of a better description, that of one who was at perfect peace with herself and her immediate surroundings; there was no outward sign of fear, trepidation, anxiety or other negative emotion.

From the external viewpoint, it did not look like things would bode well for this female student; there was no other person in the immediate vicinity, and, notwithstanding the city-wide video surveillance network set up for use by Judgement and Anti-Skill, said network could not look at every location at the same time, plus, even if she and the two young men were spotted, it was anyone’s guess whether any member of Judgement would reach their vicinity in time to prevent things going further. Notwithstanding, it is possible for miscalculations to occur in many areas of life, and it just so happened that, for this pair of delinquents, they had made a big, huge miscalculation … to put it bluntly, although they had virtually no idea at the moment, they picked the wrong person to target.

After approximately three to five seconds of looking directly at the would-be accosters before her, Seria spoke again politely in a calm and relaxed tone: “Sorry, I was just making sure I understood you clearly … however, I’m turning down your invitation to ‘hang out with you’. Besides, I believe you both have something more important to do right now, don’t you?”

Inexplicably, there was neither verbal outburst from either of the delinquents upon her rejection of their ‘offer’, nor any action on their part indicating that they would simply take her with them, if she wouldn’t come ‘willingly’. One of the young men then spoke in a strangely slurred tone: “Oh, … what is it that we have to do?”

After a further pause, Seria spoke again, seemingly in the same calm and relaxed tone of voice as before: “It seems that you’ve decided … that you don’t want to share a girl, today … so that, if there’s only one girl before both of you, the two of you will decide who gets the girl by fighting each other until only one is left breathing. Perhaps the girl might be impressed enough to go hang out with the winner ...”

 

Roughly thirty seconds later, Seria continued on her way, un-obstructed and unharmed, even while behind her, the two young men had responded to her final statement by a shoving match with each other, which swiftly escalated into an no-holds-barred brawl. Luckily for the average resident of the City, there was no-one else immediately present who might get caught up in the fight, but once the two men had gotten underway with (figuratively speaking) punching, pounding, and pummeling each other into a pulp, Seria had taken a video clip (surreptitiously) with her phone and sent it with a a notice to the nearest Judgement Office, informing them of the fight. Whether the City’s disciplinary force arrived at any particular time was of little concern to her; at least these two were out of her hair. Possibly on another occasion, she might have arranged something potentially more embarrassing for those two, but she had, in her mind, more pressing concerns right now. For now, it was enough to set things in motion so that, when the Judgement members did arrive at the scene, both young men were practically incapacitated by their own efforts and were in no shape to offer any resistance to being arrested.

Curiously enough, the first impression the average on-looker might adopt, if there happened to be anyone else present to witness what happened, was that Kumokawa seemed to have in some way hypnotized or mesmerized the two delinquents, right there on the spot, and the effects showed up immediately. In actuality, the ‘hypnosis’ (if that was a suitable term to describe what happened) that took place was itself not an ability developed by the City’s Power Development Curriculum. As for exactly how it happened, perhaps at this time, only one person in all of Academy City had any idea … namely, Seria herself, and she certainly wasn’t rushing to divulge such a secret to anyone. Still, it proved itself on a few occasions a useful talent to have available.

As to what was the more pressing matters on her mind, it consisted of two things, or to be more precise, one person, and one thing. The one person being a certain final year middle school male student named Kamijou Touma, who, even if unbeknownst to him, seemed to be steadily ingraining himself into Seria’s field of interest, for reasons she could at the moment not even fathom. The other thing was what she had stumbled upon during her and Touma’s first meeting; namely, what appeared to be something strange about the study material in his possession with respect to the Power Development Curriculum. While she was not running around openly declaring that there was some conspiracy going on, the possibility of that did not escape Seria’s notice.

 

That particular school day seemed at times to crawl as Seria went about her daily routine, all the while maintaining her intention of visiting Tsugutoshi later, particularly with revealing and even discussing what she had discovered about Touma. As regards their meetings to discuss and work on matters, whenever circumstances made it difficult to meet face-to-face, video-conferencing over the Internet was a viable alternative method, but it was discussed and decided beforehand that this one might best be done in the ‘traditional’ way. Strangely enough, although she did not divulge to others anything about her extra-curricular activities, there were quite a few whispers floating around her class that day, suggesting to the effect that ‘something’s different about Kumokawa, today’. Seria of course paid them little heed, or at least appeared to pay them little heed; merely keeping an ear open to detect whether perhaps someone might discover or stumble upon something they probably should not.

 

After the close of school hours, and en route to her appointment, Seria passed through a park to get to the particular bus pickup/drop-off point which would convey her to and from her destination. This particular park had an artificial river running through it, at a level lower than the park itself; the river banks sloping upwards fairly steeply to reach so-called normal ground level. The river bank was built-up on both sides with hedges and/or flower gardens, running at intervals. As she proceeded, she spotted two young children standing by the railing which generally cordoned people off from descending to the river-bank. The two children ... a boy and girl ... were each probably no older than seven years of age. The girl was crying, while the boy was apparently comforting her. Almost instinctively, “Big Sister” mode kicked in, at which Seria paused along the way, to stop by the pair.

“Hey, there,” speaking in a gentle voice, with a smile and stooping down to their level, “what seems to be the matter?” Seria asked.

“Oh, it’s my sister’s pet rabbit.” replied the boy, even as his sister continued to weep softly into his chest, while he had an arm around her shoulders. “It got away from her, hopped the railing, and scampered down towards the hedges.”

“Mmm, … did you or anyone call Judgement for assistance?” was Seria’s next question.

“I was about to, _onee-san_ ,” replied the boy, “but then a group of big boys came by. They asked the same question, just like you, and they said they’d go bring the rabbit back. One of them left his schoolbag with us, then he and the other boys scrambled down the slope.”

Seria turned in the direction indicated by the boy, only to start, as she recognized the schoolbag left behind. In the next moment, she, the children and anyone in the immediate vicinity heard shouts of shock and surprise, plus they saw a thrashing about within the hedges, as intermittently, a human arm or leg popped into view, then disappeared, together with an occasional flash of white. Suddenly, a number of schoolboys, wearing a certain middle school uniform, which once again Seria recognized on sight, burst out of the bushes, all yelling randomly in terror: “Run Away!”, even as they scampered up the slope, scrambled over the railing and dashed away in various directions. Finally after another minute or so, one schoolboy … none other than Touma … rose out of the hedge; his shirt and pants torn in places, with a white object seemingly stuck to his head.

As he made his way slowly up the slope, the white object is revealed to be a rabbit. The young boy exclaimed to his sister: “Look – _onii-san_ ’s got Kumu (that apparently being the rabbit’s pet name)!” The girl’s crying stopped almost immediately; probably were it not for her brother holding her back, she might have climbed over the railing herself to be reunited with her pet rabbit. As Touma approached the walkway, the sight of him clambering up with a rabbit somehow stuck to his head would at first sight appear ludicrously funny. However it happened, he continued his trek back to level ground.

After having finally reached the walkway, Touma’s legs seem to give out as he slowly slid down to sit with his back to the railing; the rabbit still somehow fastened to his head. He was panting for breath, as if he had single-handedly fought a great battle (and in all likelihood, he did so). The little girl came up close to Touma, calling out: “Kumu!”; at the sound, the rabbit released its hold on Touma’s head and leaped into the girl’s arms. Of course, having been released by the rabbit, and to Seria’s surprise, if not shock, blood began streaming from Touma’s head. Swiftly reaching for a handkerchief from among her belongings, Seria reached forward and pressed it over where she believed the wound might have been, even as with her other hand she took up her phone and called for an ambulance.

Touma hissed, seemingly trying not to shout loudly: “Aiee, aiee, aiee.”

Momentarily ignoring his outburst, Seria maintained pressure over the wound, saying: “Please hold still; I’ve called an ambulance.”

Perhaps the sudden burst of pain served to clear his head, even as Touma recognized the voice of the girl who just spoke to him.

“K-Kumokawa-san?” were the next words that came out of Touma’s mouth.

“None other, and this is quite a strange way to meet up again, Kamijou-kun.” was Seria’s response; something between a smile and a smirk forming on her face, as Touma recognized her. By that time, an ambulance arrived close by, and the pair of paramedics on board (a man and woman) had come up to their immediate vicinity. On recognizing their arrival, Seria stepped back a bit to give them room.

On initial examination, Touma’s injuries consisted mostly of minor scratches; the most serious one was the head-wound. As the paramedics began administering to his most serious injury, one of them (the woman) commented, seemingly with a grin: “At it again, eh, Kamijou-kun?”

Touma replied with more than one wince, as the on-the-spot treatment proceeded: “I just wanted to help the girl get her rabbit back … I have no idea why it turned out like this!”

At that exclamation, Seria asks the male paramedic: “Excuse me, but, does something like this occur often with Kamijou-kun?”

To that, he replied, shaking his head: “Since I’ve been working here in Academy City, Kamijou-kun probably has the City’s record for emergency treatments if not being taken to the hospital for getting in some sort of scrape or another. It’s at the point whenever an emergency call comes in, there’s a running bet among the paramedic teams whether he’s the one for whom the call is made.”

“Oi, please don’t make it seem like I’m proud of that sort of accomplishment … such misfortune.” grumbled Touma.

At that point, the boy and girl came up. The boy, placing Touma’s schoolbag before him, spoke first: “Thank you, _onii-san_ , for bringing my sister’s rabbit back.”

Smiling despite the pain, Touma reached out and rested a hand on the boy’s shoulder, with a reply: “It’s all right.”

Encouraged by her brother to do so, the boy’s sister also stepped forward, the rabbit in her arms, saying somewhat hesitantly: “ _Onii-san_ , I’m sorry you got hurt like that … Kumu never did that to anyone else before.”

Still smiling, Touma patted the girl on her head, saying as he did to her brother that it was all right.

The girl smiled back, then held out the rabbit directly before Touma, saying: “Say thanks to _onii-san_ for bringing you back, Kumu.”

Inexplicably and instantaneously, Kumu underwent a horrific transformation, seen by everyone immediately present except the two small children – its eyes turned red, the creature’s mouth opened in a snarl to reveal more teeth suited to a carnivore (including abnormally long canines), claws that ordinarily don’t belong on a rabbit protruded from its paws, and a hissing sound came forth from its mouth. Of course, having a front-row seat to this spectacle, Touma went almost as white as a sheet. Then as Kumu is withdrawn from in front of him, it swiftly took on the appearance of the average rabbit once more. So sudden was it all that neither Seria nor the paramedics thought of taking a picture.

As the paramedics resumed their patch-up work on Touma, Seria turned to ask the boy and girl: “Could you tell me a bit about … Kumu?”

The boy replied: “We live with our uncle, who works in … he calls it a laboratory. One day, Kumu was given to my sister as a pet.” Suspecting they would not know more about the laboratory, Seria dropped the matter for now. Suddenly, her attention was drawn to a bit of dialogue between Touma and the paramedics.

“Uh, I’m not sure what we just saw a minute or so ago,” stated the female paramedic, “but just maybe you should take a ride with us to the hospital.” Her partner didn’t say anything but nodded in agreement. For whatever reason, Touma seemed hesitant if not reluctant to take up their offer. On noticing that, something clicked (if not snapped) within Seria, so that she swiftly moved in to … so-to-say … “lay down the law.”

Touma had gradually propped himself up to lean against the railing, a plaster affixed to the spot on his head where the rabbit had somehow clamped down on it, but he had virtually no place to go when Seria moved swiftly to stand before him, almost pressing her body up against his. Poking her index finger against his chest, she said, slowly and clearly: “Your phone number.”

“Huh?” was Touma’s confused response.

“Your phone number.” Seria repeated her previous statement. “Also, you will go with them to the hospital, right now; won’t you, … Kamijou-kun?”, speaking in that same slow and clear manner, yet something in that manner made it clear to both Touma and the paramedics (both of whom were watching this exchange with a bit of amusement) that this young lady was not making a suggestion, but giving an order, and one to be carried out, without question.

Fortunately (for Touma, in this instance), any thought of objecting to or even disregarding that order was immediately wiped from his mind, as with a quick nodding of his head, he called out (presumably) his phone number.

Seria noted it mentally, with intention to add it to her phone later, then spoke again: “I can’t say exactly when, but I will be in touch with you later, to make sure you got checked out properly, … okay?”

Touma gulped, then simply said again: “Y-Yes”, seemingly resigned to the assigned course of action. The pair of young children watched it all with eyes widened in amazement, while the pair of paramedics seemed ready to burst out laughing. It was only a little later that Seria realized, with a mixture of surprise and shock what had just transpired.

Once Touma has departed with the paramedics, Seria bade the brother and sister good-bye; after which, she checked her time, before notifying Tsugutoshi that she would be running a little late; she’ll explain when she got there.

 

Later, at the Tsugutoshi Residence, and after addressing some immediate matters, Seria gave her employer a brief re-count of what she encountered in the park en route to his home.

“So, Kumokawa-san, it would seem you have had a first hand-encounter with the boy known as Kamijou Touma-san.” remarked Tsugutoshi, nodding his head sagely.

“Wait, … I didn’t mention Kamijou’s name up to now.” was Seria’s almost-flabbergasted response, “how is it that you knew who that boy was?”

Tsugutoshi replied: “From what you described about that incident you witnessed, I merely concluded that if anyone in Academy City was going to experience such a thing, it would be Kamijou-san.”

“That almost matches something mentioned by one of the paramedics,” continued Seria, “something about Kamijou getting into situations like that on a rather regular basis. Oh … I hadn’t mentioned it yet, Tsugotoshi-san, but this is actually the second time I’ve encountered Kamijou-kun.” Switching gears, she related in summary form their earlier meeting at a cafe within the Underground Mall a few days ago.

“The plot seems to thicken, even now.” remarked Tsugutoshi. “and, if I got your account of it correctly, you got away virtually unscathed, did you not, Kumokawa-san?”

“True … might there be something behind that?” inquired Seria.

“Perhaps it all depends on the answer to a simple question …” Tsugutoshi paused for a moment before continuing, “Do you believe in or subscribe to the idea of Luck, Fortune or Chance?”

Pausing for a moment or two, Seria responded: “To be truthful, I hold no deep-seated belief in those concepts, Tsugutoshi-san … although I will consider that my education to date in Academy City seems to support the argument that those concepts have no real basis, and that they can be explained in scientific terms.”

“That may be, for want of a better term, one of those ‘grey’ or ‘fuzzy’ areas, for which no single answer may exist.” came back Tsugutoshi. “Even my own education and experience suggests not to place any major reliance or dependence on those things … yet, if there really exists such a thing as ‘bad luck’, then just from recollection, I know by name of no-one who has experienced such a seeming abundance of it as has Kamijou-san.”

“Now I’m wondering whether something I happened to discover connected to that boy might be another piece of the puzzle.” stated Seria, as she brought out her laptop and, after a few seconds displayed the photograph she took, relating her initial observations about its contents to Tsugutoshi.

Tsugutoshi seemed to mull on Seria’s latest revelation for a moment before giving a response of his own: “A part of me believes you were wise not to divulge this to anyone up to now, Kumokawa-san. It just might tie in to a few other things … things I have not to date disclosed to you.” By now, Seria was virtually on the edge of her seat, her sense of curiosity all fired up.

Tsugutoshi continued: “There are indeed some things that could be considered ‘mysteries’ about this City, even if perhaps they do not necessarily have any connection to the City’s Dark Side; at least so far as I know. Tsukuyomi Komoe-san, perhaps the most recognized teacher at your school, for perhaps obvious reasons, … I have no confirmation of it, and it might be considered impolite at the least to ask it of her, but it is reputed that she may be one of the oldest residents of this City, possibly going back to its establishment some twenty or more years ago. I myself don’t frequent the information superhighway as often as your generation might, but I think she’s at times referred to as one of the Seven Wonders of Academy City … if I recall correctly, the term your generation might use is that she’s an ‘urban legend’.”

Smiling as she recalled interactions with Komoe during her first year, Seria remarked: “I’m pretty certain Komoe-sensei would not be particularly thrilled at being considered a wonder, much less an urban legend.” 

“Whether she actually is one, or not, Komoe-san is not the only individual who might have attained such a status.” replied Tsugutoshi. “There is another so-called urban legend, which, I feel safe in stating it to you, just might have something else to it … namely, _an ability that can negate or cancel other abilities.”_

 

There was much more said during her visit to Tsugotoshi’s home that afternoon, which left Seria with much food for thought, even as she made her way back to her dormitory, later. There was indeed a time during her middle-school years when she, like others before her, and perhaps as others are doing now, regularly surfed the ‘Net to look for answers regarding certain aspects about Academy City. Notwithstanding, she was indeed caught off-guard to discover that the urban legend (or what may turn out not to be such) about an ability that can negate other abilities was an actual fact … and it seemed to be actually connected to the young man named Kamijou Touma.

Later on into the night, Seria brought out her phone and entered the number Touma disclosed earlier, trusting that he had actually given her his phone number. On adding his name and number to her contacts list, she perused the basic information that was automatically loaded via the phone network. Indications were that calls to his number could be made either via the regular cellular network, or there was the option of either voice call or even video call over a wi-fi connection via a particular phone app … with that, she chose the wi-fi-based voice call option. After about four rings, Touma's voice was heard, albeit a little slurred, as if he was half-awake, giving the stereotypical Japanese greeting, which, technically, should have no place in a world governed by Science: “Moshi-Moshi.”

Seria replied swiftly: “Oi, Kamijou-kun, … you’re still alive after all that went on this afternoon?”

Touma replied after a pause of a few seconds: “If pain is an indication that I’m alive, I may yet live forever, Kumokawa-san.”

“Now, now …” came back Seria, “granted I wasn’t there at the hospital, but it couldn’t have been that bad regarding treating your head-wound, could it?”

“Oh, the head-wound part wasn’t so bad, …” was Touma’s comeback, “… it was the injections. Somehow it was decided I had to get three.”

“Mmm,” remarked Seria, “I can somehow feel how that could hurt; no doubt your arm must be sore after that.”

After a pause, Touma replied with a sigh: “That’s just it … the injections weren’t done on my arm.”

“Ooooo, … granted I can’t say I know that much about medicine, but, if not your arms, where else can they … administer …” Seria’s voice gradually trailed off as a certain picture flashed into her mind. Simultaneously, a broad grin broke out on her face as the realization surfaced.

“This Kamijou-san has a bad feeling, even without your saying anything, that you’ve guessed where he received those shots, haven’t you?” was Touma’s next statement.

Turning away from the phone momentarily and desperately trying to suppress a giggle at the picture in her mind, Seria came back: “Now, now, it’s for your long-term good, and it couldn’t be that bad, could it?”

Touma responded, seemingly gritting his teeth as he spoke: “It was, and even now is, a royal pain to sit down, whether on the bus ride home, or even sitting at a table, or … I don’t have to go further, do I? And I was told the discomfort … if this is discomfort, I don’t want to know what they call pain … will fade by morning.”

By the moment the ramifications of his reply had clicked in her mind, it was all Seria could do to avoid howling in laughter, even as she tried to offer some sort of comfort: “S-S-Sorry, … Kami-Kamijou … it’s just … just … PFFBT!” Eventually she gave up trying to suppress it and had a hearty laugh for about 30 or more seconds

After she had regained a measure of composure, Touma spoke again, once more sighing: “It’s probably just as well you get that out of your system now … at least that’s what the doctor told the paramedics; they were almost rolling on the floor, when I was told what was coming.”

After a pause of a few seconds, Touma asked: “Did those kids get away all right?”

Seria responded: “It would seem they’re fine.”, even as she made a mental note to herself to see if she could find out more about this laboratory the brother spoke of.

“Then I guess that this particular chapter of a day in the life of Kamijou-san is over and done with.” was Touma’s next remark.

“Uh-uh; it’s not quite over yet,” responded Seria, a grin forming on her face, “… you owe me for a handkerchief; the one I used to hold back the bleeding when the rabbit let go of your head.”

“Ah, yes … something else those two paramedics didn’t hesitate to remind me about.” grumbled Touma. “Come to think about it, I have it with me still. Do I launder it properly before somehow arranging to return it, or must this Kamijou-san replace it?”

With perhaps a hint of teasing in her voice, Seria replied: “Consider it to be the principle of the thing that you should replace it, Kamijou. Besides, you could look upon it as practice for the day you have to buy a gift for the young lady who’s your girlfriend … assuming you have one.”

With a sigh, Touma replied: "If truth be told, I have no girlfriend right now … and notwithstanding how things are, I feel if I ever do get a girlfriend, she’ll probably be someone older than me.” Seria’s eyes widen, and her pulse rate sped up for a moment.

After a further few seconds of pause, Touma’s voice was heard again: “I suspect it’s a bit too late to say that it was whatever was in those injections that just made me say something weird.”

Still smiling, Seria replied: “Well, perhaps that could be raised again another time, when, as you said, the chemicals in those injections are out of your system.”

“Guess so.” Touma came back at the same time, stifling a yawn. ”Well, I suppose I must look out for such an occasion, if and when it comes. As you could tell, pain notwithstanding, I’m feeling myself shutting down so, before I fall asleep on this call, I’ll bid you good-night, Kumokawa.”

“Understood … good-night to you, Kamijou.” Seria stated, as the call was terminated.

 

For a few minutes, Seria held her phone in her hand, with that same smile on her face, looking forward to one or two things in the future.


	4. Turning The Tables Around Completely

Without question, this was a bleak day … the weather forecast was for light yet persistent rain over Academy City over the next two days, and, as expected of the City’s technological prowess, said prediction was spot-on. Notwithstanding, life had to carry on, and it did; in particular for its student population, the general rule was: it’s “off to school we go” (or something like that). So said, it was to be expected that said student population made their way by whatever means to their various places of learning, despite the weather.

It was under such circumstances that, if one happened to be there to observe later on that day, that they would have found Kumokawa Seria making her own trek back to her dormitory from A Certain High School. In this instance, she was wielding a rather large umbrella, and perhaps for both ease of motion, and to avoid it getting wet, her customary long skirt was substituted that day for the standard one. As she made her way, Seria was seemingly glancing periodically at her phone; a common occurrence among both students and even grown-ups. Of course, she was also mindful to look at her surroundings from time to time, to ensure she didn’t make a wrong step. It was in the course of looking away from her phone, that she happened to spot someone on the opposite side of the street. Even from the relatively far distance (too far away to shout), she could not fail to spot Kamijou Touma, who was walking in the same direction as she was … opinions may vary as to how or why seemingly easy it was that Seria could recognize Touma, even from a distance.

On this occasion, Touma was not alone. He was holding an umbrella, while walking alongside a girl. Curiously, the girl’s school uniform did not match that of Touma’s current school. Even from that distance, Seria observed the girl’s white shirt with accompanying brown vest plus the dark skirt; all pointing to that girl being a student from the prestigious Tokiwadai Middle School. The only other immediately visible characteristic of the girl with Touma was her dark shoulder-length hair. As the two walked on where they were, Seria’s keen vision couldn’t help pick up that Touma’s left shoulder (and quite possibly a good portion of the left side of his body) was wet from the rain; seemingly, he had positioned the umbrella so that his companion was effectively sheltered as they walked. Even as a strange feeling seemed to surface in her consciousness at the sight, Seria couldn’t help but remark to herself: “Seems to be a rather endearing trait of Kamijou; putting other persons’ convenience ahead of his own.”

After a few seconds more of this, Seria brought her attention back to her phone. However, if one could observe closely, in her case, she was not watching some latest trending video clip, or browsing some news article, or going over anything connected to her work as a Board Director’s Advisor. To make a long story short, Seria was engaged in investigating a stalker … to be more specific, a potential stalker who, from all indications had Seria herself as their target.

 

While she made no deliberate move to establish the persona of being her school’s ‘Beauty-Sempai’, for which she had eventually become rather famous (or infamous, depending on one’s viewpoint) as she progressed through her second high-school year, Seria did not actively endorse or discourage any such references made to her (usually from a distance), trusting her instinctive feelings that these actions were, for the most part, harmless. Of course, if ever those same feelings broadcasted a warning of potential danger, then it became a different matter altogether. As might be expected, it was not in Seria’s nature to disregard any such warning; rather, she proceeded at once to look into the matter, even if she did her best to keep her actions in that regard concealed.

Even with Academy City’s present-day level of science and technology, it was still practically difficult, if not impossible, to determine whether someone could surreptitiously take a picture or a video of another person via their camera phone or a regular camera, unless one happened to catch the action at the exact moment. There was also the possibility of some employing their esper abilities, either directly or indirectly, to engage in any possible acts of surveillance. Nonetheless, there was enough information on the subject available via the Internet for Seria to begin her personal investigation, deciding that before she approached either her employer, or even Judgement, she should have something that she considered at least to be substantial.

At that point in her life, Seria was not a particularly regular participant in the ‘social media’ scene, and, except for her phone contact info, she herself did not have (figuratively speaking) dozens or more of photographs of herself “on the Net” - or at least, pictures uploaded personally. Notwithstanding, that need not necessarily deter someone else from capturing her in a photo or in a video clip. With that in mind, coupled with a carefully-worded internet search, using various Web tools already existing and available for virtually anyone to access, she in due course discovered to her surprise the existence of a few pictures of herself, taken without her knowledge, and definitely without her consent, linked to a discussion thread within a particular social networking forum, which, from initial appearances, seemed to have teenagers or young adults as its primary audience. The particular thread, together with its full content, was, unsurprisingly, accessible only to registered users of the forum, and from all observations, not even a registered user of the forum could access the particular group from which the thread was originated. Persons had to request access to the group; said access would be granted by the group’s administrator(s). Having reached that far, Seria swiftly took up the matter with Tsugutoshi, who in response, contacted a business associate of his, who specialized in private investigations. In due course, said investigator found their way into the group, and effectively captured a snapshot of the thread’s contents, passing same onto Tsugutoshi and Seria.

“I myself have not viewed the contents of this copy of media up to now.” remarked Tsugutoshi. “Seeing that it seems to concern you, Kumokawa-san, I felt it appropriate that you should see it first. Also, it should be a given that my associate is both trustworthy and knowledgeable enough in these matters not to let this information be leaked.”

“If you trust your associate, then so do I, Tsugutoshi-san.” was Seria’s reply, “As I indicated, my instincts are saying this matter won’t fade away on its own, so then, if I must deal with it, then it shall be dealt with.”

 

Over roughly the next 24 hours from receiving the media, Seria used any free moment she could take during her regular routines to peruse what might have been discussed about her on the thread. To put it simply, on the one hand, the remarks and insinuations could be considered, to say the least, disturbing. Someone of a relatively weaker mind-set (something Seria was certainly not) might even be repulsed or disgusted by the content. The fact that her name was posted alongside her pictures on the thread already gave credence that this was no mere observation from afar, even if there was no definite information at the moment regarding how someone managed to discover her identity. Much of the comments posted amounted to the typical talk among the average young man after, so-to-say, they awoke to an interest in girls, which in some instances could be dismissed as young boys merely stoking their ego. What confirmed Seria’s suspicions that this scenario, if left alone, could potentially escalate into something unpleasant were some comments further along the thread, suggesting that attempts should be made to find out where she resided, or to have her daily movements observed via secret cameras of one form or another. 

Notwithstanding that such technological items existed, even within Academy City, it was also a reasonable assumption that the average student or resident could not get their hands on such things, at least not via legal or ‘above-board’ methods. That led Seria to accept as a possibility that the chief instigator of this potential threat just might have connections to some wealthy or influential person(s) … perhaps even another Board Director. Careful browsing indicated that, not counting Tsugutoshi’s investigator, who got into the group by posing as a student, there were up to this point in time a dozen persons who were members of the discussion group, assuming that the member list did not have any persons who chose to hide or mask their presence. Out of that dozen, three persons were listed as the administrators or moderators. The investigator, through means of which neither Tsugutoshi nor Seria needed to know, subsequently uncovered and disclosed the identities of these three persons, as they existed in the City’s records of its student population. 

The three were all male, and registered as students at other high schools (not the one Seria attended). All three have been through the Curriculum. Two of them – identified by name as Horoshi Kiba and Sazaki Toshio – were Level 0’s; the third – Mokoto Jirei – was a Level 2, with the ability: Proxy Override – according to his esper data, he can cause direct stimulation of a person’s nervous system, either via physical contact or by emitting pheromones effective up to a 3-foot maximum radius around him. In ways as yet unclear even to the City’s research scientists, the stimulation bypasses all conscious control of the person who is affected, and lasts as long as the physical contact or the presence of pheromones in the zone of influence is maintained; in short, he can effectively take over control of another person’s body while using his ability. All indications to date were that Motoko could only take over one person at any moment. There was no specific mention in the personal data files of these students … files to which Tsugutoshi had access, given his Board Director status … confirming whether either of them had ties to another Director. However, within each young man’s personal data was a psychological profile, which was usually generated together with their System Scans. After perusing said profiles, Tsugutoshi’s investigator gave his opinion that, even if it may not be considered substantial proof, from his experience, the contents of the profiles suggest that either or all three young men displayed behavioral patterns that were often found in persons subsequently convicted of stalking, harassment and other similar activities.

“This is indeed a troubling situation,” remarked Tsugutoshi. “It is an unspoken rule that, unless we are working on a common task, Board Directors try to steer clear of each others’ affairs. Still, and even if one of them does have ties to another Director, as you do to me, I won’t simply let this continue. At this point, we have sufficient evidence to conclude that these three may be the central figures regarding your being stalked, Kumokawa … however, at best, it might only be enough to bring Judgement in on an investigative level.”

“With due respect to Judgement, I prefer that this progression should be stopped in its tracks as soon as possible.” replied Seria. “For that, it is likely that we must somehow entrap them, in order to get the full scope of what they are or have been up to.”

“Something tells me your exceptional mind is even now seeking to devise a plan to that effect.” was Tsugutoshi’s next comment.

“Something is brewing, so-to-say.” responded Seria. “And since I am their intended target, at least for a while, I need to be out there as the bait to draw them in.”

“Ordinarily, I would object to your putting yourself at potential risk like that … I don’t need to state that we’re not in some action movie scenario, or anything like it. However, you probably have a point that you need to be in the open, if only for a little while.” said Tsugutoshi.

It was decided on that moment, that the plan would be further developed. To that end, Tsugutoshi contacted the manager at Seria’s dormitory, indicating that she was engaged in business with him, and that he would assume responsibility for her well-being until she returned the next day. While Mrs. Tsugutoshi prepared the guest room, Seria and Tsugutoshi, together with the investigator joining them via internet video, put their collective heads together.

 

Within the space of the next 24 hours, the particular discussion thread was abuzz with activity of the not-so-pleasant kind. Tsugutoshi’s investigator, using the fake student identity via which he initially gained access to the thread, had posted a notice that Seria has been recently seen in the company of an as-yet un-identified boy. As could be expected of the caliber of some (if not all) of the members of the discussion group, the reactions were, to put it politely, highly in the negative. A few hours later, a picture of Touma appeared in the thread, at the time without disclosing his identity … the investigator suggested that, if Seria’s suspicion that one of the primary candidates for being the stalker had ties to either a Board Director, or some other influential person, they would sooner or later put a name to the picture, via their own means.

Sure enough, a private online conversation subsequently took place later between the three administrators of the group:

Sazaki Toshio: _“So, the identity of this male student has been uncovered?”_  
Mokoto Jirei: _“I had to dig a bit, but thanks to my resources, it’s been revealed … Kamijou Touma, middle-school student, and a Level 0.”_  
Horoshi Kiba: _“A Level 0, … shouldn’t be a problem for us to deal with.”_  
Jirei: _“Oi, don’t jump the gun … appearances in this City can be deceiving. Nonetheless, we all agree; Kumokawa Seria is going to be ours, and we’re not allowing anyone … least of all, some little boy still in middle-school … to get between us and her. First thing to do is to find him, and get the goods on just what his connection with Kumokawa is; then we deal with him, as necessary.”_  
Toshio: _“Granted we probably can’t approach this Kamijou at his school, or his dorm; that’ll likely be too conspicuous.”_  
Jirei: _“Not to worry. Tomorrow all schools are closed; the support systems for all utilities and like services are undergoing extended maintenance, so it was decided by the Board to effectively grant a day off from attending classes. I was able to access the files from the administration department of his school … they’ve got no officially planned activities, so in all likelihood, he can spend the day doing what he wants. We just need to spot him if or when he comes outside, then go after him.”_  
Kiba: “ _Agreed.”_  
Toshio: _“Done.”_

 

The next day opened exactly as indicated by Jirei. Taking advantage of an effective day off, Kamijou Touma had made his way to the Underground Mall, and at the moment was simply walking around, having apparently purchased something in a particular shop. On the surface, things appeared quite normal … although not so in actuality. Ever since his arrival at the Mall, Touma had gradually become aware of a feeling that he was being watched, and the feeling was not a pleasant one. Months of experience in such matters, in all likelihood arising out of Touma’s infrequent clashes with one or more delinquents, had honed both his physical senses as well as the faculty of mind known as Intuition to clue him to the simple fact that, as it turned out, there were at least three young men observing him and shadowing his movements from one place to another. That same experience clued him in to avoid direct eye contact as far as possible, instead making use of indirect observations in mirrors, or the glass storefronts where possible, but enough observations had taken place for Touma to reach his current conclusion.

“Something about this doesn’t feel right to this Kamijou-san.” was effectively Touma’s internal monologue. “Unless by chance they know someone with whom I’ve had some sort of encounter in the past, I don’t know who these guys are, and, unless they borrowed or stole the clothes they’re wearing, I don’t think they’re delinquents.”

Barring some sort of intervention by some outside individual or party, Touma concluded that, even while their progress through the Underground Mall was presently at a walking pace, this present scenario might just lead to his having to confront his as-yet unknown pursuers, and in all likelihood, said confrontation would likely lead to a fight. Fortunately, Touma had sufficient presence of mind not to force a confrontation in the open areas, both for the sake of not getting any passer-by caught up in any fighting that might break out, as well as to avoid as far as possible such a thing being picked up by Judgement … even if the support system infrastructure for all schools was out of service this day, Judgement’s surveillance network, even if it could not pick up all areas of the City at once, was active ‘24-7’, and Judgement’s policy if or when fights between students were encountered was simply: arrest all involved or present, and sort out the details later. In all fairness, Touma had experienced some past arrests by Judgement arising out of fights, but up to now, it was eventually revealed, either by surveillance footage, or by one or more eye-witnesses (curiously enough, in most cases, the eye-witness was a female) that he was either simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, or that he was actually intervening on behalf of someone who was either being harassed or otherwise accosted, so that, when everything was settled, he was released without any criminal charges being placed on his records … but that is a story for another time.

On this occasion, things were a little different. Tsugutoshi Kaizumi, although not physically present at the moment, had arranged for Seria and his investigator to be granted (albeit temporary) access to Judgement’s surveillance network, so that they had a rough fix on Touma’s presence, as well as the three suspects pursuing him. Having been fitted with a sophisticated miniature two-way audio transceiver, and with a map of the Mall on her phone, Seria had set out in pursuit of her own; the investigator remaining as concealed as possible. From initial observations of their movements, Seria deduced in perhaps some uncanny way that Touma at least seemed to be aware of his pursuers, as well as a likely spot ahead of them at which she could intercept him.

 

Suddenly, Touma’s internal musing as to just how to deal with this situation was abruptly interrupted by his receiving a phone call. Taking care not to shut out his looking out for his pursuers, Touma answered the call, only to hear a familiar voice on the other end.

“Now listen very carefully … I will say this only once.” replied Seria. “You’re coming up to a thoroughfare on your left-hand side. Turn into it and come through it as quickly as you can. I’m waiting at the other end.”

The thoroughfare in question was effectively a paved walkway effective crossing through the central portion of the Mall, which was for pedestrian traffic only. Something in Seria’s tone of voice convinced Touma to do as was suggested and ask questions later. With that, he terminated the call, at the same time turning into the thoroughfare and proceeding at a brisk walk, at times shifting into a light sprint if the surrounding pedestrian traffic allowed for it. His pursuers, noticing his sudden change of direction, naturally sped up their own efforts, but for the moment, the gap between them and Touma had increased quite a bit. As he was told, Seria was awaiting Touma at the other end, acknowledging his arrival with a thumbs-up.

“Good job, Kamijou-kun … now, come with me.” was Seria’s next statement, simultaneously taking Touma by the hand and leading him into a clothing store, taking specific care to make a beeline for the lingerie section. Such a move by Seria might have been a psychological tactic in the event that Touma’s pursuers happened to either spot them or take a random guess as to where they might have gone, or it might have been for other reasons. Of course, being the normal teenage boy that he was (right hand notwithstanding), Touma’s mind was momentarily thrown into a state of turmoil.

“Easy there, Kamijou.” remarked Seria with a smirk, all the while keeping her voice low, “perhaps another time, you could assist me in shopping for something here, but I daresay we’ve both got more important things to deal with first.”

“Somehow I take it you’re referring to the ones who seem to have been following me since I came to the Mall today.” stated Touma in a similarly lowered voice, with a raised eyebrow.

“Correct.” was Seria’s reply. “To keep it short and simple, those guys are possibly stalking me, and I’m right in the middle of seeking to confirm that … with some outside help, of course. According to my outside help, they seem to have tagged you as their rival standing between themselves and this Kumokawa-san.” Touma almost gave himself whiplash as he turned swiftly towards Seria after hearing what she said.

“I’ll assume that a more detailed explanation will come later, but, just how are you going to confirm that these three are stalking you, Kumokawa?” asked Touma.

“Trying to deal with all three at once would be difficult … the safer and more practical option is to get them to separate.” Seria responded. “Just checking, if it came down to it, could you fight the three of them?”

“A three-on-one fight is a last resort.” was Touma’s comeback, “To start a fight in the Mall is troublesome to begin with, and it’s a risky thing if I have no idea of the other person’s fighting skills. But if I believe there’s no other choice, I’ll have to go for it.”

“Then I suggest that we employ the strategy of a swordsman running away from a group of pursuers.” Seria came back in turn, even as she gradually led Touma up and down the aisles of the store’s lingerie section.

“Sounds like something out of manga or anime … how might that work?” asked Touma, one eyebrow raised again.

“It’s really simple,” came back Seria, “… more often than not, persons run at different paces. The swordsman running ahead draws his pursuers out, so that, if at any time he stops to face them, he will likely face them one-at-a-time, rather than as a group. It’s not perfect, but like you said, it’s potentially better than trying to face them all at once. It’s also potentially more tricky to do such a thing in the Mall, but the principle should still hold.”

“Seems you have some sort of strategy in mind as to how to separate them.” remarked Touma. “

“I do, and honestly, you can help get that done, Kamijou-kun.”, was Seria’s reply, “… although I’m wondering whether I should really get you more involved in this.”

“From what you told me, and I trust you on this, I’m already involved, Kumokawa. Plus, as I mentioned when we first met, if I see someone needing help, and as long as I can do something about it, I’ll do it.” Touma replied in turn, perhaps in the immediate moment missing a faint blush appearing on Seria’s face at his indirect declaration that he would stand by her in this matter.

“Right, then … here’s what we do.” came back Seria, tapping something on her phone. Within a few seconds, a map of the Underground Mall was sent to Touma’s phone. “I and my outside help had planned this out, and it helps that there seems to be only three of them. On that map I just sent you, we’ve worked out a specific route for them to follow. I’ve already memorized it; all that is needed is to lead them along that route. If all goes well, they will separate themselves to cover more ground … and that’s where and when they’ll be dealt with, one at a time.”

“And I judge from your explanation that I’m the swordsman running away …” remarked Touma, mumbling under his breadth: “… such misfortune.”

“Think you’re up to it?” inquired Seria, a grin on her face, and one hand extended towards Touma in a clenched fist.

“Let’s get this over with.” was Touma’s comeback, accompanied by a fist-bump and a grin of his own.

 

A few minutes later, after having discovered the approximate location of his pursuers via Seria’s temporary access of Judgement’s surveillance network, the three male students were almost shocked to see Touma ahead of them, albeit at a fair distance away. He seemed to pause before turning into a side street. Without question the three pursuers gave chase, and, as Seria theorized, they all covered ground at different speeds; Jirei in front, followed by Toshio and eventually Kiba. They had figured amongst themselves if they should get separated, they could communicate via e-mail.

Having reached the end of the side street, Touma turned in a particular direction, as directed by the map. Jirei and Toshio, although still some distance behind, continued their pursuit. Kiba brought up the rear, only to suddenly stop in his tracks, as A Certain Female High School Student appeared in front of him, seemingly out of nowhere. Momentarily distracted by the appearance of the one he and his associates were targeting, Kiba stood speechless for a few seconds, even as Seria spoke a few simple words: “I’ve been looking for you.”

It was all that was needed … while there was nothing apparently visible on the surface, Kiba suddenly found himself seemingly immobilized, unable to move his body in any direction. Still keeping herself mindful of her surroundings, Seria approached him, speaking again: “You have one or two things I’m interested in, and you will give them to me … won’t you.”

 

It was not until about two or three minutes later into this game of ‘cat and mouse’, that Jirei noticed that Kiba was no longer behind them. Stopping in his pursuit for the moment until Toshio caught up with him, Jirei exclaimed: “Oi, … what happened to Kiba?”

Panting for breath after stopping, Toshio replied: “No idea, man … and there’s no message. Maybe he’s just winded and took a break to catch his breath.”

There might have been further discussion, except for Toshio suddenly spotting Touma. Perhaps on another occasion, he might question how it is that their quarry was seemingly in a different direction to the one they had been following, but in the heat of the moment, such a question was not raised. Jirei growled: “I’m going on ahead to keep up with that punk. You send Kiba a message, then follow. I’ll send you both my location.”

“Right.” was Toshio’s reply, even as Jirei resumed the pursuit. Seconds later, Toshio typed a message on his phone with intent to send it to the third member of their group. The message was never sent, as a voice softly yet suddenly rang into his ear. “One moment, please.” As before with Kiba, there was simply no resistance or opposition.

To make an otherwise long story short, by whatever inexplicable means were at her disposal, Seria had literally immobilized first Kiba, then Toshio a little later, and while they were, so-to-say, in her grasp, she proceeded swiftly to inquire of them their administrative login data for a certain discussion group. On each occasion, and to ensure accuracy, she requested they pass on said data via bluetooth from their phones to hers. Once she received it, she passed in onto Tsugutoshi’s investigator, who was standing by to log into the group and, hopefully, confirm what had been gathered from his own investigations. After said information was passed on, Seria suggested to each of her “victims” they should remain where they were for at least 15 minutes; after which they were free to do as they wished, without any recall of her presence or what they did under her influence. Even as she proceeded on her way in pursuit of Touma and Jirei, a message came to her phone from the investigator, effectively giving the sought-after confirmation. Tsugutoshi had also requested that, if said confirmation was secured, he should be notified immediately.

 

Roughly another three minutes or so after leaving Toshio behind, Motoko Jirei found himself in another thoroughfare between sections of the Mall … one that was strangely deserted at the moment. Suddenly realizing that Toshio had not yet caught up with him, Jirei tried reaching both of his companions via phone, to receive no answer.

Frustration at how their plan for today seemed to be turning out began to show as he grumbled: “What the hell is going on? … those two don’t normally go disappearing like this.” Then, as he paused to collect his wits, Jirei commented further, perhaps speaking to himself: “Then again, is it even possible that we’ve somehow been set up?”

“Mmmm, … it’s a possibility.” a girl’s voice sounded behind him.

Startled, Jirei turned around a few seconds later, to discover Seria leaning against a wall, arms folded in front of her, yet eyes trained squarely on him. As he turned around, he did not see anyone else present, yet he felt a strange sense of foreboding.

Maintaining a calm and even tone of voice, Seria spoke again: “Another time and place, I’d say it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Motoko Jirei … or something like that.” - an astute observer if present would note that she did not attach any honorific to his name - “… however, I believe we’re both aware that certain things that led to this moment don’t make this a pleasure, at least not for me.”

Jirei sought to maintain a confident appearance, even as his pulse started to speed up, managing to blurt out as Seria lapsed into silence: “I really can’t say I grasp what you’re suggesting, pretty lady.”

“You need not say anything … I’ve already obtained what I’ve been seeking regarding your plans and intentions towards me.” Seria replied, her eyes not departing from Jirei for an instant. “As to how that happened, you could ask that of your associates when next you meet. Perhaps the question to be asked now is, what’s going to happen next.”

Even as a little voice inside Jirei’s head seemed to say with increasing frequency: “Oh Crap”, he struggled internally to seek an opportunity to regain the upper hand. In his own mind, he reasoned out that he still had his ‘connections’, plus from his own investigations, Seria was literally a Level 0, so there should be no way for her to counter his Level 2 ability, if he decided to use it.

As Seria stepped forward from the wall, Jirei came back, seeking to mask his growing apprehension as confidence: “If this is some sort of attempt to intimidate me, you’re making a mistake. You may not know just who I am, or what connections I might have access to.”

“How enlightening … the same declaration might equally apply to yourself.” was Seria’s reply.

Realizing that he probably will not be able to bluff his way out, Jirei decided with a sneer growing on his face, to use his ability, Proxy Override. Within about 30 seconds, the area in which both Jirei and Seria were standing became permeated with what might amount to a sweet-smelling odour, which amounted to the physical manifestation of his ability. “Hah … it’ll just be a matter of seconds before you sing a different tune, you bitch.” was Jirei’s own internal monologue. Moments later, that monologue and his facial sneer were reduced to nothing as Seria maintained her position, with no apparent sign of her being taken over.

“Is there something strange in the air, or is it just me?” Seria spoke again, as if taunting Jirei and his attempts to use his ability on her.

With frustration and rage building up, as his plans were falling apart in front of him, Jirei stepped forward towards Seria, snarling: “What the f___ is going on … you’re nothing but a Level 0; how is it you’re somehow unaffected by my ability?”

Seria did not answer, but suddenly a hand rose up in the air behind her, even as a male voice was heard: “Maybe I have something to do with that.”

In the next second, Touma, who had hidden himself in the shadows at Seria’s direction prior to Jirei entering the thoroughfare, and had stepped up behind her as she in turn stepped away from the wall, now stepped in front of Seria, his right arm and hand extended before him. Jirei’s focus was entirely upon Seria, so he simply failed to notice Touma’s presence, until that moment.

With increasing rage, Jirei exclaimed louder, even as he stepped forward: “The hell is this … how can you be unaffected by my ability?”

“Well, that’s my business.” replied Touma. “As for me, I trust what I’ve been told about your business and what you intend towards my friend. If you think for an instant I’ll let such a thing happen, especially if I find out about it, you’re under an illusion … and I have a tendency to break illusions.”

At this point, Jirei was about three feet away from Touma, and, as before, his focus was at that point in time entirely on the young man before him, so it was almost expected that he did not notice a certain action until it was likely too late to do anything about it … Seria executed a forward flip and somersault over Touma, landing roughly two feet in front of Jirei, before pivoting smoothly on one foot to simultaneously execute a roundhouse kick, catching Jirei solidly in his face, thereby causing him to spin around almost in a complete circle before he fell to the ground, unconscious. It is probably worth mentioning that, for ease of movement that day, Seria had once again substituted her usual long skirt for the standard one, and, if by any remote chance Jirei happened to see ‘anything’ under that skirt as Seria’s shoe-clad foot said ‘hello’ to his face, he will probably tell no-one.

 

Silence reigned in that area for a few seconds before Touma commented: “Can’t help but say that, usually, I’m the one who delivers the finishing blow, but I’m impressed at how you moved, Kumokawa. So, what happens next?”

Smiling a bit, Seria glanced at her phone, then responded: “My outside help has confirmed certain information regarding this one and his partners. Said information will be passed on appropriately, so that, if ever they try something like this with me ever again after today, they will be … dealt with.”

“Scary.” was the thought that flashed across Touma’s mind at the implication given.

“And before it slips me, you have my thanks for making this plan work out, Kamijou-kun. If I may say so, we seem to be able to work well together.” Seria remarked, stepping forward to rest a hand on Touma’s shoulder, before continuing: “I know, … I’ll treat you to at least a cold drink or two at the cafe where we first met. Maybe a certain waitress wouldn’t mind seeing your face there, again.”, a hint of teasing in her voice.

“What about this one … is it enough to leave him there?” asked Touma, glancing at a still-unconscious Jirei.

“Consider it that he’s reflecting on his actions.” was Seria’s reply. “Plus, if said reflection is not enough, he and his companions will have matters of their own to deal with soon enough.”

“Works for me.” Touma replied in turn as they departed.

A few moments later, Touma stated: “Ah, before it slips me, … the main reason I came to the Mall today was to get this.” As they walked along, Touma reached into one of his pockets to pull out a small bag, folded to fit in said pocket, before handing it to Seria. Her curiosity aroused, Seria unfolded and opened the bag to look inside, then her eyes opened wide and a smile broke out on her face as she spotted a handkerchief inside the bag; doubtless a replacement for the one used to staunch blood back on “the day of the rabbit”.

“Mmm, … good work, Kamijou.” was Seria’s response to that.

Scratching his head momentarily, Touma replied: “I can’t say I’ve much experience in buying that sort of thing. Fortunately, I had someone give me advice on that.”

“Per chance, was the person giving advice the young lady you happened to be in company with under an umbrella, roughly three days ago?” asked Seria, the hint of teasing still present.

Touma started before replying: “Yes, now that you mention it. Is that it, or is there anything else you’d like to know about that?”

Seria mused on that point, before saying: “Nothing right now. Well, our work here is done … let’s get those drinks.”

 

Later that evening, via video conferencing with Tsugutoshi, Seria learned some further details about what was discovered, concerning Jirei and his companions. Thanks to the investigator gaining access to their administrator data, it was subsequently revealed that she (Seria) was not the first target of these persons regarding their unwanted activities, and that they had been engaged in this behavior for quite some time. Tsugutoshi had in the interim discovered the identity of the person whom Jirei claimed as a ‘friend in high place’, promising Seria to approach said person with the intent that he or she would ‘strongly discourage’ him from engaging in said acts again, with the caution that, if it is ever detected that he is doing so in the future, the matter will be passed over to Judgement.

“Notwithstanding that you were able to pull this off successfully, Kumokawa, I think it wise that different arrangements should be made available for your accommodation from this point on, so as to minimize the chance of a repeat of this occurrence, or anything along the same line.” was Tsugutoshi’s recommendation.

The proposed arrangement was that within the next few days, Seria would occupy various apartments or houses within District 7 on a seemingly random and rotating basis; naturally, arrangements would be set in place by her employer. Considering her status as an advisor, and that it may even help to indirectly keep others from getting involved in her activities in that regard, Seria consented to the proposed new arrangement, with Tsugutoshi saying that it will be put in motion within the next day or two.

“By the way, Kumokawa.” remarked Tsugutoshi, before closing the call, “I’m aware you had assistance of sorts from Kamijou-san in dealing with this matter. Dare I ask whether his assistance was satisfactory?”

Glancing at a small shopping-bag given to her afterwards, Seria responded with a smile: “It was very satisfactory, … in more ways than one.”


	5. Misfortune Rears Its Head In Most Unpleasant Ways

It was early in the morning, that day … approximately an hour before the end of the curfew for Academy City’s student population. Notwithstanding, there were some students who, because of special circumstances, could be outside their place of residence during the curfew period. Backed up by her confirmation as Tsugutoshi’s advisor, Kumokawa Seria was one such person, even though she made it a point not to overly use or abuse such a privilege. Strangely enough … or perhaps not so strange, there was something that had Seria ‘up and about’ at such an unusual time, not connected to her engagement as a Board Director’s advisor. The cause for this particular early-morning appearance seemed to have its origin in her reflecting on certain facts disclosed to her by Tsugutoshi some time ago.

It may indeed be true that, from the standpoint of how things appeared to the outside world, Academy City may be rightly considered the beacon for casting the light of scientific knowledge and innovation far and wide, dispelling the illusions and delusions having their origins in ignorance and superstitions which, supposedly, imposed bondage and limitation upon the mass of mankind for centuries. Possibly its most striking example along that line was the development and awakening of paranormal abilities in certain members of its student population, or as they were more commonly referred to, esper abilities. Said achievement was without equal or even a close competitor among the other nations of the world, or at least so far as has been disclosed up to the present day. However, was this indeed the way forward for mankind as a whole … or was there something concealed from even the City’s esper students, maybe even from the City’s overall population … something deeper, even darker or else bordering on sinister?

 

“It’s probably a fair assumption that the majority of the City’s esper population give little if any consideration to the ‘flip-side’ of that initial proposition that they can acquire an esper ability.” remarked Seria at one time during one of her advisory sessions with Tsugutoshi. “Speaking generally, a student resident of this City becomes effectively the property of the City. We have practically no voice or opinion to question anything going on, must less make a move to effect changes. If I go by general observation, we become part of some perpetual loop … we go to school, we engage in the Curriculum, we develop esper abilities, we are remunerated according to the Level we realize, and that progression I suspect carries on, regardless of whether we are in kindergarten, or at university level. Except perhaps at the Daihaseisai sports festival, we are generally prohibited from using esper powers on each other for any reason … although I’m certain it does happen on occasion, and oft-times in an unofficial manner. And in my mind, there should be two obvious questions: where is this research into esper abilities going, and just how is it being funded?”

“Indeed, it is remarkable that you, Kumokawa, are one of the few from within Academy City’s student population with whom I’ve ever interacted, that has ever raised such questions about this City, and its program of esper development.” was Tsutoshi’s reply. “At the same time, it is unfortunate that there are, relatively-speaking, so few who ever pause to ask such questions. Perhaps the allure of gaining some esper power is so bright, that consideration of the possible ‘flip-side’, as you put it, is obscured. While certain things related to your inquiry remain, so-to-say, classified, I can reveal this much, for now. Academy City does have at this time various technological and co-operative agreements in place between itself and numerous entities around the globe, both private institutes and governmental organizations from certain countries. While perhaps the so-called ‘lower-ends’ of this City’s technology … items we ourselves rarely if ever use anymore … are the majority of what is provided to those other entities, it is a fair assumption that out of this comes at least some of the funding which inevitably goes into the City’s economy. And this is only referring to activities that may be considered legal, or ’above-board’ … at least on paper.”

Now it was Seria’s turn to question in a somewhat cautious tone: “For that matter, is it wise or even safe to even touch on the subject as we are right now?”

“I won’t attempt to deceive my advisor on the possibility that we are for the moment treading on potentially dangerous ground.” Tsugutoshi replied, “Nonetheless, and perhaps right now I speak not so much as a Board Director, but as a parent … I have become aware of certain things that have occurred in the past, … procedures implemented which were not officially part of the Power Development Curriculum, experiments which went awry, actions that turned out to be violations of international laws … concerning a few student espers, that, if I had power to prevent them happening, I would have. To put it mildly, apart from myself, and perhaps one other Director who comes to mind, the Board as a whole, over time, seems to have come to regard the City’s students as either nothing more than test subjects, or merely means to some end … more often than not, that end is the furtherance of various ambitions, financial or otherwise. My rationale is that, even if I give up my position as a Director, or even if I am dismissed, there is always the chance that the person who would fill that vacant position might simply add more fuel to that fire. However, as long as I am here and in this position, I will do what I can to keep said fire under control; although, it may be wishful thinking to believe it may ever be fully extinguished.”

“And then, it may be asked where might Kamijou-kun fit into this mystery?” Seria interjected at that point.

“Somehow, you happened to raise the issue of Kamijou Touma-san before I did.” remarked Tsugutoshi, a bemused expression on his face. “As I mentioned on a previous occasion, Kamijou-san at times displays, for want of a better word, an ability … that of being able to negate other abilities. Yet, from what I have gathered personally from the test data on him, it does not seem to be an ability acquired via the Curriculum.”

Recalling her first-hand witness to Touma’s ability in action, while dealing with the incident of her being stalked, some time back, Seria replied: “But if Kamijou’s ability is not something arising out of the Curriculum, then what does that make him out to be, in terms of how the City’s Espers are either classified or ranked?”

To that, Tsugutoshi replied: “The official position, so-to-speak, assigned to Kamijou-san, is that he is a person possessing an ability, albeit he is ranked at Level 0. That is a stipulation passed down to the Board by the City’s General Superintendent, and consequently, such is stated on his System Scan reports and in his records. Interestingly enough, his System Scan results seem to have no conclusive data regarding just what his ability is or might be, which supports the observation that, whatever Kamijou-san’s ability is, he was either born with it, or acquired it by some means not related to this City or its Esper Development program. Moreover, there is a further directive from above; Kamijou-san is not to be involved, whether directly or indirectly, in any plans or endeavors of any Director, without the General Superintendent's express permission. The Superintendent has also stated clearly that personal action will be taken against anyone who disregards this directive.”

 

‘A bird in a gilded cage’, or perhaps ‘many birds in one gilded cage’ might be more appropriate to describe in simple terms what it might truly mean to be a resident, student and esper of Academy City; herself included to a degree … such was the thought resonating in Seria’s mind as she proceeded along her way that early morning. For the moment, she was not even certain where she was heading or for what purpose. It was perhaps as if some unseen call was made, and for whatever (for-the-moment) inexplicable reason or reasons, she was responding to that call.

Indeed, a spark of an idea had inexplicably taken root in her mind regarding Touma; from what she had gathered, his ranking as a Level 0, in spite of the fact that little or nothing seemed to be known about his ‘ability’, gave a measure of credence to the possibility that someone out there just might know something more about him or his ability, but by ranking him as a Level 0, the unseen truth was perhaps being hidden while simultaneously being in plain sight. Of course, there was at the moment nothing available to substantiate such an idea, but for the moment, Seria was content to let it lurk in some corner of her mind.

Eventually, her completely spontaneous early-morning trek took Seria through a park roughly in the middle of that part of the City. She happened at that moment to be approaching a certain vending machine, famous (or, depending on one’s viewpoint, infamous) for how it responded when persons sought to purchase items out of it. However, while she knew (at least in theory) that others might be outside before the end of the curfew, there was at least one person she genuinely didn’t expect to meet up with.

There, seated on a bench near to the vending machine, was none other than Kamijou Touma.

Even as Seria initially sped up her pace to meet him, she was on the verge of calling out to Touma, when some unspoken instinct stopped her from doing so, as well as caused her to slow down to a quiet, almost cautious approach. As she got closer, Seria observed a few things that inexplicably set off one or more internal alarms within her. There was at the moment no sign of the quiet yet dogged demeanor that seemed to mark how the young man generally carried himself. At that moment, Touma seemed to radiate a palpable aura of depression, that, even if she had no psychic ability to speak of, it registered with Seria, much like walking into a space permeated with the odor given off by some concentrated substance permitted to dissipate into the surrounding atmosphere. Even though his jacket was draped across his hips as he sat, Touma was wearing his school uniform, clutching (presumably) his phone in his left hand, all the while, seemingly staring into space and practicably oblivious to his surroundings, much less to Seria’s gradual approach.

Finally, Seria got to the bench, a bit of worry beginning to creep into her mind, as Touma seemed not to register her presence, even when she was practically a foot away from him. After a few more moments, the suspense about the whole situation finally caused her to speak, softly yet firmly: “Kamijou-kun.”

Touma twitched initially upon hearing her voice, then perhaps two or three seconds later, he slowly turned his head in Seria’s direction. Something caused her to look into his eyes, to realize with shock … a small ‘gasp’ broke forth from her lips … as his eyes were dark and almost bloodshot. Looking more closely, his shirt was wrinkled and dirty, suggesting that either he got into something early that morning that would have otherwise messed up a clean set of clothes for the day, or he was wearing the same clothes he had put on the day before. Even his spiky hair seemed disheveled in places. His body seemed to twitch at random intervals, if not tremble. In fact, his whole posture and behavior at this moment made it difficult for Seria to hazard a guess as to what he might say or even do next.

Even as the suspenseful atmosphere seemed to increase in density, Touma finally spoke in a raspy voice, uttering a single phrase, which at first gave no clue to its meaning, yet setting off another internal alarm to the older female who had called out to him.

_“I was too late.”_

Even as those words left his lips, Touma seemed to tremble once again. Swiftly and seemingly without any conscious volition on her part, Seria swiftly sat beside him on the bench. In the next second, she reached out to rest a hand on his shoulder, again registering with shock as she did so, that he was cold to the touch … almost as if he had been outside of his dorm, or any building for that matter, perhaps for the whole night. Touma kept softly repeating the same phrase: “I was too late.”, even as he continued to tremble, tears now beginning to leak from his eyes.

Whether it was purely instinct or something else, Seria’s hand, previously resting on his right shoulder moved gently to his left shoulder, thereby drawing Touma close to her, so that his head was resting upon her collar-bone. Genius intellect notwithstanding, she recognized that Touma was at that age where emotional outbursts or displays, such as that which might be seeking release right about now, were for the most part discouraged among young males as they made the transition from boys to men, or at least as how society perceived it. Yet she realized that something disturbing, perhaps even tragic, had happened to this young man, and it was likely eating him up inside. She had witnessed a few instances of unpleasant things having happened to him, yet there was no reaction to those that came even close to what she was witness to right now. And yet, Seria decided she wouldn’t turn away … she would stand her ground and, even if she had no clue of what transpired, she would be there for Kamijou Touma. At that moment, she found herself whispering: “It’s all right, Kam- … Touma-kun.” As she repeated her soft whisper a few times, her words finally seemed to reach Touma, as he turned to bury his face in her shoulder, whatever emotional pain he had been seeking to suppress finally being let loose, even as his body shook with every sob uttered. Seeing him in such a state was disturbing, almost even painful, yet Seria continued to hold him close, even occasionally stroking his hair with her right hand, yet saying nothing for the moment.

 

It was anyone’s guess, unless one watched a clock, how long the two teenagers sat there on that bench, before Touma slowly raised his head, seemingly having regained enough composure to perhaps talk to the young girl beside him.

Choosing her words carefully, Seria asked gently: “Do you want to talk about what happened, Kamijou-kun? … it might help clear the air, at least.”

Touma went immobile for a few seconds, before silently nodding. While she might have been eager, even anxious to find out what had put him in such a state, Seria made an effort to be patient, and let him disclose things on his own. After what felt like an eternity, Touma began speaking: “Yesterday, I lost my phone … I recall that I collided with a girl on the street, and somehow this Kamijou-san’s phone ended up in her possession. Anti-Skill contacted me later, saying someone … presumably that girl … turned in my phone. Once I retrieved it, I saw a message on it.”

Touma trembled a bit, but Seria maintained her arm across his shoulder, at times gripping his left shoulder with her hand, as if to reassure him that she was there. After that pause, he continued: “It was from someone I knew … they asked me to come and help them. I collected the phone after school hours, so according to the time when the message reached my phone, about three hours had passed. According to the message, she was at Ground Geo.”

“Ground Geo?” Seria replied, with no small amount of surprise. Even if she herself never visited the location, she knew what it was … an experimental geothermal power station located in the mountains within District 21 of Academy City; although for the most part, the station was not occupied round-the-clock by any personnel.

Touma took some deep breaths, as if to calm himself, then went on: “I eventually got up there, … only to discover some persons from Anti-Skill, together with an ambulance close to the lake. When they saw me, they blocked me from getting closer.” Seria felt a chill along her spine, bracing herself at least mentally to face whatever Touma was about to reveal, yet all the while she maintained her silence.

Eventually, Touma continued: “I told them someone I know had contacted me, asking me to come up there; even showing them the message on my phone. One of them, looking at the message, took me aside … then I was told … they had retrieved a body out of the lake … a girl who had apparently drowned in it. She was identified via their access to student records.”

Touma turned to Seria at that point, the pain seemingly returning to his eyes: _“It was Mitsuari-san … the one who had contacted me to come and help her.”_

The chilling feeling along her spine seemed to intensify as Seria took in the full measure of what had been disclosed. Touma spoke again, a hint of bitterness creeping into his tone: “I really don’t remember how I came down from District 21 … nor do I recall much of what happened between then and now, when I heard you call out to me. All that was ringing in my head, and maybe it still is even now, is the fact that I was too late to respond to her message, much less even help her … and it’s my fault that she’s ...”

“No.” Seria suddenly exclaimed, if not shouted. “I won’t let you resign yourself to such a conclusion, Touma-kun!”, swiftly pulling him away from her only to grasp his shoulders with both of her hands, so that she was looking at him, face-to-face.

“Kumokawa,” Touma replied, his tone almost as cold as ice, “you’ve seen at least once how things that might or could be considered as unlucky or misfortunate happen to me. I don’t know how or why it is like that … not even here in Academy City has anyone found an explanation about it … but for whatever reason, things like this have happened to me for as long as I can remember. And even if I don’t remember every detail, from what I recall my parents telling me, it seemed that it had happened even before I came here, and other people got affected somehow by it. I thought … even hoped … that by being here, even if unfortunate things happen to me, it wouldn’t carry over to anyone else. Putting up with it myself is one thing; having or seeing someone close to me suffer as a result of it is …”

Whatever Touma might have said next was interrupted by Seria swiftly clasping his face with both hands, moving so fast as to almost slap him on both his cheeks; it’s quite possible that she did, without realizing it at the moment.

Seemingly having gotten his attention momentarily, Seria interjected at that point: “Touma … I don’t know what the relationship or connection between you and this girl is or might have been. It may even be none of my business, to be frank … I won’t declare that I have an explanation for why this happened to her, or why you couldn’t answer her in time.” Even as she continued to speak, a thought flashed into her mind, recalling words spoken by the young man himself some time back, “All I want you to get clear in your own mind right now, is that if you dare to resign yourself to believing that this girl’s death is somehow your fault, then you’re the one living in an illusion … and I promise you; this Kumokawa-san will break such an illusion, and hard!”, scarcely noticing that she was practically shouting at him by the time she finished speaking.

 

For what seemed to be an eternal time interval, nothing was said between the two. Seria was fighting a niggling voice in her head, reminding her that, her intellectual level notwithstanding, she had no formal or professional training in how to counsel a person if or when something like this happened. Nonetheless, she refused to back down … Kamijou Touma had become someone important to her, and she would not hold back in trying to relieve his pain, by whatever means were at her disposal, even if said means were amateurish at best.

Gradually a familiar light seemed to slowly return to Touma’s eyes … a light Seria had seen that first fateful day they met at a certain cafe. It was the light of one who would press on, in spite of whatever life might seem to place in his path. Even as Seria consciously took slow deep breadths to calm herself down, Touma himself exhaled slowly, before speaking again, a different, almost familiar tone returning to his voice: “You’re right … it’s hard to accept it, but you’re right.”

Realizing more on instinct than anything else that she managed to reach him, Seria allowed herself to sigh in relief that, at least for the moment, Touma was unlikely to do anything foolish or reckless in reacting to what happened. She did make a mental note of the surname of the girl, “Mitsuari”, deciding that at the first chance she got, she would look into the matter, but reason prevailed in her making no promise on the spot to reveal anything of her intentions to Touma, unless it was the appropriate thing to do.

The sun had begun to show itself in the eastern sky, when Seria’s phone gave off a message notification tone. Glancing at it, she noticed that the curfew had long ended; in fact, she and Touma had been at that bench for just under an hour. Telling herself she would respond to the message and its contents later, she turned to Touma, asking: “So, will you be all right now, Kamijou?”, somehow switching back to calling him by his surname.

Touma responded softly, but at least he held his head up as he did so: “I feel drained, … but that aside, I’ll probably live.”

“Granted I’m not your teacher or in any such capacity, but I recommend you take the day off.” remarked Seria, “If as you said, you’ve been outside all of last night, lack of sleep is likely to catch up with you sooner or later.”

“You’re probably right.” was Touma’s reply, even as a yawn suddenly broke out on his face, causing Seria to giggle. “Wouldn’t do any good for this Kamijou-san to fall asleep before walking down a fight of stairs, or something equally hazardous.”

Rising from the bench, and extending a hand towards him, Seria helped Touma rise himself, before speaking again: “Guess it’s time to get on with the day. I was serious though when I said it; you should take today off and rest.”

“I will, I will.” replied Touma. “For all I know, if I disregard your advice, you’d somehow sic those two paramedics on me again.” … a flashback to his encounter with a certain white rabbit. The recall of that incident brought smiles to both their faces … or at least, Seria found it comforting to see that Touma could make a joke like that, after what he had apparently been through.

Slinging his jacket over his shoulder, Touma turned to walk away, as he spoke once more: “Well, be seeing you later …”, only to halt in mid-sentence as, once more acting on either instinct or an impulsive feeling, Seria swiftly moved to embrace Touma from behind, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing tightly, perhaps a bit more than might have been expected. Touma’s response was to place one hand over her arms, yet he made no attempt to break her hold. The two teenagers stood like that for perhaps just under a minute.

Seria spoke again, before releasing her hold: “Seriously, … if you need to talk about it further, you need only call me, Touma-kun.”

“Understood, … and thank you, Kumokawa.” was Touma’s soft reply. At which point, having been released from her impromptu embrace, Touma walked away. His movements were slow, almost as if in a dream, but his posture seemed straight and his head held up. Seria watched him travel further until he turned a corner to disappear from her view. Trusting that he was indeed proceeding back to his own dorm, only then did she proceed on her own way.

 

The day almost seemed to pass with a blur for Seria, especially when she later read the message that had been sent to her that morning. It was perhaps more of an effort to keep her attention on classes, but, given what she had discovered in her early-morning encounter with Touma, it was understandable. Curiously, or perhaps not so, there seemed to be only a little gossip circulating among her classmates or, generally, among the population of A Certain High School, regarding the incident at Ground Geo, which, although it eventually made it to the City’s local news broadcasts, it was, at the moment, listed as a death by drowning, although still under investigation. Yet, the way the news report released the story … the identity of the victim was not mentioned at the time … did little to quell a nagging feeling in Seria’s mind that there was more going on that what might, so-to-say, meet the eye.

Some further details, not initially mentioned in the first news reports were revealed by Tsugutoshi to Seria later that evening after school, in response to the message she received that morning, which actually came from him. The victim was a student of Tokiwadai, by name: _Mitsuari Ayu_ , a Level 3 esper, with a telepathic ability given the code name: ‘Mental Stinger’. A look at her profile photographs from her student records confirmed in Seria’s own mind that this girl was the one she observed walking with Touma under an umbrella, some time ago. Some more curious details, not necessarily put before the City at large, were also revealed … it seemed that she was one of two potential candidates to undergo further work via the Curriculum in order to have their Esper Level raised to Level 5; the other candidate, by whatever coincidence it happened to be, was another Tokiwadai student and similarly, a Level 3 esper, named _Shokuhou Misaki_. Apparently, after consultations between the Board Directors, and a recommendation process which was submitted to the General Superintendent, Shokuhou was selected to be ultimately made into the next Level 5 esper, while Mitsuari was assigned to be a back-up, in the event that anything happened to the first selected candidate.

“It is as you mentioned, Tsugutoshi-san.” stated Seria, hardly even trying to mask the bitterness in her tone, in response to what has been revealed. “For the most part, espers are actually little more than chess-pieces to be moved here and there at the whims and fancies of others, and I have a feeling that, if something should happen to the first-choice candidate, she or he might be replaced swiftly and almost without a second thought.”

“I have little else to add to that, Kumokawa, that you and I haven’t mentioned before.” replied Tsugutoshi, his own voice tinged with sadness. “Much of the reactions of the City at the so-called higher level, at least to me, appears to be more cosmetic than doing any sort of real good. Counseling sessions are being scheduled for Toikwadai’s student population, or at least Mitsuari’s immediate classmates, in response to the City at large learning the victim’s identity. Even if I am not handling the matter directly, notification of Mitsuari’s death has been prepared, signed by all Board Directors, for delivery to her next-of-kin, as indicated by her student records. And yet, something for which I have no hard evidence is telling me, there is still something afoot.” At the mention of counseling being prepared for Ayu’s classmates, Seria wondered for a moment whether the Anti-Skill personnel who intercepted Touma’s approach to the scene might have suggested that, having known the victim, at least to a degree, he should undergo something similar.

Silence pervaded the atmosphere for a few moments, before Seria spoke again: “My first guess is, all of this points to some sort of move by one or more persons within the City’s Dark Side, for reasons which may as yet be known only to those who may be behind such a thing.”

“Your supposition is not without merit, as it is similar to other incidents that I have encountered in the past, before I recruited you.” was Tsugutoshi’s reply.

“In which case, I assume we shall cautiously proceed to look into the matter, and, if at some point we discover anything significant, we may have to decide amongst ourselves what to do at that point. And I don’t mind saying this … I will do such a thing for both professional reasons, as well as for personal reasons.” Seria responded in turn, a strange tone pervading her voice and mannerisms at that moment.

Even if he made no immediate comment, Tsugutoshi sensed what those reasons might be, or at least in summary. Professional reasons for getting to the root of the matter concerning Mitsuari Ayu could be summed up as: what might have happened to any one student of Academy City could happen again to any other student. As for personal reasons, it was in all likelihood a result of the connection that had formed between Seria and the young man named Kamijou Touma.

“Indeed we shall.” Tsugutoshi finally responded. “As may be expected, I will use whatever means are available to me to search further for anything else that might be connected to this matter. Whatever I find, you and I … and others if need be … will go through it, until there is nothing left to find, or whatever might be at the heart of this matter is revealed. The only caution I would impose upon you, Kumokawa, is that, even if it is discovered that there is some as-yet-unknown actions that brought this incident to pass, it would probably be for the better if Kamijou-san does not learn of it.”

Seria started at her employer’s last statement, almost ready to swiftly fire back an objection … then, in her own reasoning processes, it was as if a light clicked ‘on’ in her mind. Even if at the moment, Tsugutoshi was only speculating that something in the matter of Ayu’s apparent suicide seemed amiss, it would become a whole different matter if his speculations were proved to be an actual fact. If that indeed became the case, then, logically, any action that might follow would not be best handled by a middle-school student, regardless of any power or ability possessed by him or her.

Sighing deeply, as if to quell the bitter taste that seemed to fill her mouth at the moment. Seria replied to Tsugutoshi: “Understood.”

 

Hours later, back at Seria’s current abode, a quick glance at her inbox revealed an e-mail from Tsugutoshi having been delivered, while she was, so-to-say, in the bathroom. Glancing at the message, it seemed that Tsugutoshi wasted no time in beginning to dig deeper into the issue of Ayu’s death, and, to put it simply, one or two things had been uncovered. Granted it was far from permitting any definite conclusion to be made, but it was a start. Seria decided not to pursue the contents of the message in any greater detail that night. Instead, taking up her phone, she composed a message to a certain young man.

Seria: _“Are you still awake by chance, Kamijou?”_

A few minutes later, after her message was sent, a reply came … after which, a few more messages were exchanged:

Touma: _“Guess so, … as you hinted, I slept soundly when I got home. Perhaps my sleep-clock or whatever it is has been thrown out of sync as a result, so that, right now, I’m wide awake.”_

Seria: _“Then again, you might blink one minute, only to find that you have nodded off, and that even a good few hours have passed.”_

Touma: _“I have nothing to counter that with, so I’ll yield to your experience, Kumokawa.”_

Seria: _“Good call. Seriously, though; how are you holding up, after … what happened.”_

Touma (taking a minute or two before replying): _“I forgot where I first read or heard it, but I guess I’ll sum it up like this: I must keep going. What happened to Mitsuari-san might be best described as a case of a video game telling me: ‘Game Over’ … it still bothers me that I couldn’t get to her in time, it may probably bother me days, weeks or months later. Now that my head’s a bit clearer, I’m not sure I could guarantee to anyone, even myself, that I could have helped her, even though I would have given it my all. Nonetheless, the only option before me is to keep going. And right now, that will have to do.“_

Seria: _“Well, if you can talk that way, then you can indeed keep going. And, like I said this morning, ... this Kumokawa-san is here, and will be there, if you ever need me to be there.”_

Touma (again, after a minute or so): _“Even with my seeming tendency for unfortunate things happening to me, I’d prefer to get better, stronger, etc., just so that something like that won’t happen again. Still, it’s good to know that I have someone like you on my side, … thanks again for that, Kumokawa.”_

Eventually, the message exchange came to a close, after which Kumokawa Seria made a promise, which perhaps for now, was known only to herself: _“I’ll trust you, as you said, to get better, stronger, etc., Touma-kun, so that you can help people to keep smiling, as you hinted to me when first we met. And as for me, I never again want to see you sad, like I witnessed this morning. Therefore, even if I might have to become as ruthless and devious as those who might lurk within this City’s Dark Side, I myself will get better, stronger, etc., at whatever I do, … so that I can protect your own happiness.”_


	6. Various Meetings Of Similar Minds

Just over two weeks have passed since the Ground Geo incident. Weather-wise, the sun was oft-times hidden by clouds, but there was minimal forecast of rain on that day, so that, those who chose to be out-of-doors needed to have little concern of any unexpected shower. Life for the most part in Academy City had moved on, with only a handful of persons, relatively speaking, having any sort of lingering connection, whether direct or indirect, to that event.

One such person, on that particular day, was seated at a table at an outdoor restaurant, within a shopping district situated within the exclusive (meaning: reserved for females only) area within the City, known as School Garden. This young lady, wearing the Tokiwadai school uniform (the long white lace gloves may or may not be part of the standard attire), blonde-haired, eyes which, if one were to observe closely, seemed to have stars visible within the pupils, and of rather petite build (perhaps nature had not yet, so-to-say, brought about certain changes) was none other than Shokuhou Misaki, Academy City’s Number Five Level 5 Esper, and the stated “Queen of Tokiwadai”, being the leader of the largest clique of students from that Middle School.

Misaki was at the moment relaxing at her seat, a cup of tea and a plate bearing a hunk (rather than a slice) of cake before her, when another girl, also wearing the Tokiwadai uniform, came up to her, carrying a laptop.

“Excuse me, Shokuhou-sama.” declared the girl, bowing slightly. Misaki glanced up, then nodded as if to acknowledge her presence.

The girl continued: “All our recent surveillance activities have been gathered and collated. The results are contained here for your review.” Evan as she finished speaking, she released the laptop from ‘sleep’ mode, then extended the laptop to the seated girl. Misaki took the laptop, and proceeded to browse what was displayed on its screen. The girl who brought the laptop stood where she was, hands behind her back. Nothing was said for approximately five minutes.

Finally, as if she had seen enough, Misaki handed the girl the laptop back, before saying in a pleasant tone: “Please convey this message on my behalf to the others: you all have done well. At this time, we shall desist from any further surveillance, unless or until it is decided otherwise.”

“Yes.” replied the girl, stepping back before making another small bow, and then departing.

Once left alone, Misaki took a sip from the teacup before her, while speaking to herself: “I’m certain that there is much more to learn or discover about you than what my intelligence-gathering ability has acquired thus far. Such activities on my part do entail the possible risk of making myself more visible than I would prefer to be … but at the same time, it’s quite possible that you may have reached a similar position regarding myself. In which case, I am content at this point to assume, that one day, you and I will meet, face-to-face. Such may prove to be an interesting event, … _Kumokawa Seria-san_."

 

Almost simultaneously, there was something taking place within a private room, located on the upper floor of A Certain High School. Said room was usually reserved for use by final-year students for self-study purposes, as an alternative to doing such things in their classrooms; students of course having to reserve the room in advance. In this particular instance, the sole occupant of the room was none other than a certain second-year high-school female student, seated at the lone desk in the room, her laptop, phone and a notepad placed on said desk. Although not a final-year student at the time, it proved once more that being a Board Director’s advisor did carry with it certain advantages; even if at the moment, that knowledge was virtually concealed from the population of her High School.

One moment later, a notification sound comes from the laptop, and a window opened almost immediately. Calmly, Kumokawa Seria proceeded to scroll through the information displayed.

It should be briefly noted that Seria was by no means a ‘skilled hacker’ or ‘super computer whiz’ herself, but, with the backup of certain resources available to her as an Academy City Board Director’s advisor, she could get more done than the so-called ‘average’ PC user could without said resources. After five or so minutes of browsing the display had passed, Seria typed a few keystrokes on the laptop keyboard, saving the information displayed in a chosen format, both to the laptop’s hard drive as well as simultaneously to a Net-based secure storage location.

That completed, she reclined back in the chair, arms folded over her chest, saying to herself: “Well, that proved to be an interesting first glance. Perhaps it took a long time, relatively speaking, to gather what had been presented, because, for reasons known only to you, you choose to keep a low profile, as opposed to the Number Three Level 5 being at times the ‘poster child’ for this City and its esper development achievements. Ah, well … it’s probably a safe assumption that you, by whatever means you have at your disposal, have been observing me, just as I have been observing you. Perhaps the next step is not to do this anymore from a distance or within a shadow, but to meet in the open. It remains to be seen whether it will be you, _Shokuhou Misaki-san_ , or myself, who will be first to extend any such invitation.”

 

Over that elapsed time period, and while not neglecting his other duties and responsibilities as a Board Director, Tsugutoshi had, via his own investigative sources, uncovered some strange things about Mitsuari Ayu’s ‘suicide’. Although the persons Touma encountered at Ground Geo that night were indeed from Anti-Skill, official records stated that those officers were not from the same unit or group and did not usually work together under what might be deemed normal circumstances. Furthermore, from said sources came suggestions that records have been ‘doctored’ (to use a polite term) regarding an official autopsy and that Ayu’s body has been sent to her next-of-kin. Obviously, in the absence of irrefutable proof, it would be problematic to make this discovery public knowledge, let alone bring it to either Judgement or Anti-Skill.

“This is purely speculation on my part, Tsugutoshi-san,” commented Seria at one point, “but is it possible that Mitsuari-san’s “death” may have been staged … even faked?”

“That is not entirely impossible, given our discovery of certain factors which only seem to raise questions, rather than to point to definite conclusions.” was her employer’s reply. “Still, such a speculation leads to more questions at this point. Was the whole thing set up either by Mitsuari-san herself, or by another person? Who would gain anything from this matter, and what? Also, would doing such a thing even serve any purpose? And those are the questions that come to me immediately.”

“Out of curiosity,” came back Seria, “has there been any word to the Board from the General Superintendent, regarding the matter of Mitsuari-san?”

“Up to this moment, no.” responded Tsugutoshi. “Thus far, it seems that the Superintendent seems content to leave it up to the Board to handle this affair. Of course, that could change in a heartbeat.”

“And then, there is the issue of a certain document, whose existence you revealed to me, just after our investigations began … the Parameter List.” Seria spoke again.

“Mmm, … some might hold to the opinion that, as a student and esper, your Level notwithstanding, you should remain unaware that this List even exists, Kumokawa-san” was Tsugutoshi’s response. “Nonetheless, as my advisor, the case is different. Naturally, I need not spell out the likely reactions the City’s esper population as a whole might express, if ever the contents of the Parameter List should ever be revealed to them.”

“I personally need no reminder of that … even if it seems to confirm a point raised before; an esper’s future is practically worked out for them, barring some unforseen factor coming into play.” stated Seria. “Well, if ever this List is to be revealed to the City’s population-at-large, it won’t be by myself.”

To sum up the subject in as few words as possible, the Parameter List was, as its name implied, a complete listing of the potential development of the ability of each and every esper resident in the City, together with comprehensive details on what was required – both financially and otherwise – to produce the anticipated results of said development. It is even noted that, notwithstanding the predictions of the Parameter List, it was ultimately the final decision of the General Superintendent, regarding who might get raised to another level and to what level.

“Thus far as our looking into the matter has gone, to date,” remarked Tsugutoshi, “the only person known who may have any sort of connection to Mitsuari-san just happens to be Shokuhou Misaki-san. Indications are that they were in the same year at Tokiwadai, although both in different classes. Whether there are, or were any personal issues between them is at present unknown, but that is a sensitive subject which I am reluctant to touch, unless all other possibilities draw a blank. As to the potential gains of becoming a Level 5 esper, full details of that are not made public knowledge, but it is not beyond the realms of possibility that either or both of them might have, either via use of their own ability, or other means, gained some insight into the issue, that could have set in motion some sort of rivalry or even animosity between them.”

“Unless your sources can identify or reveal any other person or persons with a connection, then the only subject for our investigations is Shokuhou-san.” was Seria’s reply. “But I agree that any direct investigative action by yourself or your associates on a female middle-school student might be looked upon as, to say the least, inappropriate behavior. In which case, perhaps from here on, I should be the one directly engaged in such activities. If I am discovered, then you have room to intervene if necessary … perhaps your seeming absence may even lull some unknown persons out into view.”

Pausing for a moment, Seria then continued: “At this point, how far is it known amongst either the Board Directors, as well as perhaps Judgement or Anti-Skill, that I am engaged as your advisor, Tsugutoshi-san?”

“At this time, I have only advised those parties that I have taken on an advisor; your identity has not been revealed to one and all, except for that incident involving those who were stalking you.” replied Tsugutoshi. “And even that was revealed only to a select few. Nonetheless, just as it can be said that it was one or more technological advances that led to the awakening of esper abilities, those same technological advances, especially when applied to tests done on espers may even lead to ways and means of countering or negating said abilities. To what extent that might or could happen might only be known to those actively engaged in developing such means. If you are willing to further investigate any possible connection involving Shokuhou-san, then I will direct my own efforts elsewhere for the moment. Notwithstanding, my advice is to exercise discretion, if not caution, in your actions, Kumokawa-san.”

“Given that I am literally a Level 0, it makes sense that certain steps should be taken. I have a few ideas in mind as to what those might be.” Seria replied.

Tsugutoshi’s advice was certainly not without warrant, as, to put it bluntly, one did not simply go looking for one of Academy City’s Level 5 espers, let alone engage in any sort of surveillance action upon them, without any sort of precautionary preparation. Curiously enough, so far as things went to date, only one of the Level 5’s could be said to be in view of the masses more than the others. That happened to be the Number 3 Level 5; another Tokiwadai student named Misaka Mikoto. Whether the designation as ‘the Number 3’ meant third in order of attaining Level 5, or third in terms of power rating or ranking, or had some other meaning was perhaps known at that moment only to the General Superintendent. Aside from Misaka, there were sporadic appearances by the designated Number 7 Level 5, a young male named Sogita Gunha. Beyond that, there were few who could claim to recognize the other Level 5’s or to know their identities, outside of perhaps the Board Directors.

 

Due to the decision not to let the potential trail “go cold” surrounding the Ground Geo incident, together with dealing with both her own schoolwork as well as other advisory affairs, Seria could only keep an eye (proverbially-speaking) on Touma via random messages. Sometimes, a reply came within a few minutes, other times, an hour or more might pass. At the least, his action of replying seemed to indicate to her that, in his own way, Touma was seeking to move on, which was perhaps one less item of concern. Accordingly, and so as not to appear to be a bother, the elapsed time between messages grew wider.

However, almost nothing could prepare Seria for what she happened to spot one fine day after school. Once more, she sighted a certain spiky-haired male student on the opposite side of the street from where she was, his school-bag held over his shoulder by one hand. Once again, he was in the company of a girl … only this time, it was, from observing the girl’s uniform, and her blonde hair, Seria almost immediately recognized Touma’s companion from her own prior surveillance activities as none other than Shokuhou Misaki. To a casual onlooker, the sight of a young girl skipping back and forth around the young man as they proceeded along their way might conjure up the image of a puppy seeking to get the attention of an older dog, or, if such was their preference, a kitten with an older cat. It meant something else to Seria entirely.

“Now, that was absolutely unexpected … a Level 5 who, from all past accounts, usually kept herself out of the public view for the most part, now being visible.” said Seria to herself. “Maybe Touma has some inexplicable ability to influence females after all.” Even as she finished her internal monologue, there was nothing in Touma’s body language or expressions suggesting that he was seeking to put on a show for the world-at-large to see. Nonetheless, the more she watched them simply walking along, Seria gradually became aware of a feeling in her gut, which, to be frank, wasn’t a pleasant one. After a few seconds, Seria decided to let good sense prevail and not to interrupt them; she figured she could always ask Touma about his new companion at some future time. Even as she made that decision, for whatever reason there was, Misaki happened to turn her face in Seria’s general direction.

Proverbially speaking, for one or two seconds, both girls’ eyes made contact with each other.

During that interval of time, for want of a better description, Kamijou Touma felt a chill traverse his spine, for reasons he could not fathom. But via some perhaps inexplicable instinct, he opted to keep silent about it.

 

The fateful day, speculated by both Shokuhou and Kumokawa, finally showed itself on the horizon, when an unusual visitor came one day to A Certain High School. Specifically, it was a member of Misaki’s clique, who, on being escorted to the Staff Room, requested to see Seria. After being summoned, Seria met with the Tokiwadai student in the private office, located on the upper floor.

The visitor’s message stated, in brief: “I bear an invitation for you, Kumokawa Seria-sama, to meet with Shokuhou Misaki-sama, the Queen of Tokiwadai.”, giving dates, times and options for a meeting location.

Recognizing that she was effectively conversing with Misaki herself, via her messenger, who was “under control’ at the moment, Seria weighed the options presented and, after selecting the one that seemed to best suit her, consented to meet. The messenger departed after receiving that response.

One day later, the meeting between a certain first-year female middle-school student and a certain second-year female high-school student took place. The venue selected was an open-air restaurant, located on the middle level of the Dianoid complex. Said venue could be considered, for all practical purposes, open and in public view, but appearances can be deceiving, and on both sides.

Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, or at least seemed that way, when Seria, accompanied by a member of Misaki’s clique, made their way to the table where Misaki was seated. Misaki appeared lost in thought when her subordinate announced: “Kumokawa-sama is here to meet with you, Shokuhou-sama.” Although she made no comment on being addressed with the ‘-sama”, honorific, Seria assumed it was merely a matter of civility, as was generally expected by students of Tokiwadai.

Upon that announcement, Misaki looked up with what a casual observer might consider a pleasant expression on her face. Said expression was practically matched by Seria. In that brief second of initial eye-contact, a curious picture seemed to instantly spring forth in the mind of Misaki’s subordinate – that of two tigers crouching yet facing each other in silence; each seemingly on guard against a possible attack by the other, yet quietly looking for an opportunity of their own to strike. She hoped her expression did not betray her innermost thought at the moment.

Calmly, Misaki rose to her feet, saying with a slight nod of her head: “It is a pleasure to meet you in person, Kumokawa-san.”

“And it is likewise a pleasure for me, Shokuhou-san.” was Seria’s simple response, coupled with a nod of her own head.

Turning away briefly, Misaki addressed her subordinate: “We shall converse in private right now … I shall contact you if anything is required.”

“Understood, Shokuhou-sama.” With that reply, and a short bow, the other Tokiwadai student took her departure. At which point, Misaki invited Seria to take a seat by extending her arm towards the un-occupied chair at the table.

After both girls sat down, Seria spoke: “As I arrived, I placed an order for an iced tea with the waiter … someone should be bringing it here, even now.” Misaki nodded, without a word, even as one of the restaurant waiters approached with said beverage. Misaki had already arranged for a tea-pot and a tea-cup on the table prior to Seria’s arrival. Once the waiter had departed, that was perhaps the unspoken signal to “get a bit serious”.

 

“I should first express my thanks for accepting my invitation, Kumokawa-san.” Misaki began. “Although it’s quite possible that, another time and place, our roles as inviter and guest might be reversed.”

“Speaking generally, Life is sometimes full of the unexpected, Shokuhou-san. Possibly, people such as you and I might be more familiar with such things than the average resident of this City.” responded Seria.

“If I may say so, perhaps such an event as this could be deemed inevitable.” was Misaki’s comment, “especially in light of my discovering that someone … namely yourself ... has been, shall-I-say, casting an eye upon me, for some time. And I can’t help but find it interesting that, even as we sit here, there are at least half a dozen miniature drones, likely equipped with video cameras and sensitive microphones, in our general vicinity and trained upon us.” Seria had taken a drink of her beverage as Misaki spoke, but otherwise showed no particular reaction or response to Misaki’s statement.

Having placed her glass back on its coaster, Seria made a comment of her own: “I will make no attempt to deny what you’ve just said, or to challenge the accuracy of it … anymore than, I trust, you will not deny that, even as we sit and speak here, I’ve noted since I arrived at least a half-dozen Tokiwadai students, on first glance perhaps seated at random locations, yet effectively surrounding this table.” Strangely enough, or perhaps not so, while Seria spoke at that point, Misaki took a sip from the tea-cup before her. As it turned out, both Misaki and Seria had taken “certain precautions”, just in case something should happen. In like manner, Misaki showed no visible reaction or response.

After a second or two, Misaki placed a finger to her lips, as if making some sort of contemplative gesture, before she spoke again: “It is best to conclude that, at this moment, we have both simultaneously positioned ourselves into, for want of a better word, a stalemate, and one intended to keep ourselves honest towards each other in our dealings, Kumokawa-san.”

“I probably could not have stated it better, myself, Shokuhou-san.” was Seria’s reply. “Therefore, since time is as valuable a resource as anything else, perhaps we should proceed at once to address certain subjects which have led to this meeting.”

“Agreed.” was Misaki’s response. “Are they many subjects to be discussed, and do you propose any particular order to address them.”

“Right now, there are only two that come to mind.” stated Seria. “Interestingly enough, there may indeed be some connection between them. Getting right to it, the first is the matter of, if I may state it like that, your late fellow Tokiwadai student, Mitsuari-san.”

After Seria finished her statement, Misaki seemed to pause for two or three seconds before speaking: “As unfortunate as that incident turned out, I was genuinely under the impression that Judgement’s and even Anti-Skill’s investigative ability had reached a particular conclusion regarding what happened to Mitsuari-san.”

“Perhaps they did.” was Seria’s come-back. “However, and with due respect to Judgement and Anti-Skill, in certain corridors, those conclusions are far from satisfactorily closing the matter.”

“Well, I see no harm in disclosing the few things which I happen to know about.” stated Misaki, “even if it could be propositioned that your current position as a Board Director’s advisor does not necessarily grant you the authority or power ability of an officer of either Judgement or Anti-Skill.”

“You are indeed correct on that point. All such a position might give me is a degree of freedom to move in ways which they (a reference to Judgement and Anti-Skill) will not, or perhaps cannot.” replied Seria.

After another pause of a few seconds, Misaki spoke again: “This may probably be known to you already, but Mitsuari-san and I had virtually no direct interaction with one another. Our individual classroom assignments, our being subject to tests at various facilities … whether by sheer coincidence, or by deliberate design ... were practicably kept separate from each other. And while there is no stipulation that students from different classes cannot engage in any social or interactive ability with each other outside of regular school hours, such a thing never transpired.”

“I’m prepared to take your word on that point. Granted I will also include a certain past event into my deliberations.” remarked Seria.

“Ohh,” was Misaki’s reply. “Granted my ability to read minds … specifically yours … is not in use right now, would you care to enlighten me on that particular past event?”

Pausing for a second or two, Seria came back: “Without going into specifics, of which I’m certain you know more than I do, I refer specifically to The Exterior Project.”

 

At that spoken phrase, Seria noticed a flash in Misaki’s eyes, otherwise, there was no visible response or reaction. After about two to three seconds, Misaki responded: “It is probably well that at the moment we are still in a stalemate, Kumokawa-san. In another place and time, it’s possible my response ability to your revelation might take on a different form than it does right now.”

“The possibility exists, as long as you’re still alive, that you may exhibit said different response, even after this meeting is over.” replied Seria. “Unless you care to hear my full disclosure, it’s enough to state that I have learned of the matter; whether I know the full details or not may be another story. To be frank, even if I have no esper ability at all, my personal opinion is that, were I in that exact position, I would likely have taken a similar course of action that was used to … shall-I-say … bring that project to a halt, Shokuhou-san.”

“Oh, ... I have my reservations about this, but I can’t help wondering whether your last statement is implying that some sort of common ground has been or is being established between us?” inquired Misaki at that moment.

“If one believes in coincidence, then such a thing belongs to that sphere.” replied Seria, without pausing or missing a beat. “At this moment, we are supposedly being honest towards ourselves. Therefore, as far as I am concerned, our interactions are strictly on a professional level. Anything else is just an illusion.”

Putting down her teacup after Seria had finished speaking, Misaki spoke again: “That is quite an interesting word to use, Kumokawa-san … 'illusion'. Somehow I get the impression that we are gradually shifting to the other subject you previously hinted at.” Almost unsurprisingly, it was now the turn of the older girl to demonstrate no particular reaction or response, except a momentary flash in her eyes.

“Indeed, we seem to be, so perhaps we should proceed right away to clear the air between us, regarding a young man, with whom we both seem to be acquainted in some way … a middle-school student named Kamijou Touma.” responded Seria.

“Mmm, … notwithstanding my earlier mention regarding your status as a Director’s advisor, there may be one or two things about Kamijou-san of which I have no reservation about disclosing.” was Misaki’s next statement. “There may be one or more other things which a proper lady should keep in confidence, of course.”

“Of course.” replied Seria. “Then, so that there is no misunderstanding … Kamijou-kun is a friend of mine, but in all honesty, that is as far as our relationship goes up to this point in time.”

“For the moment, I’ll accept what you’ve said as true.” was Misaki’s reply. “To keep things short and simple, the connection between Kamijou-san and myself might be considered similar to yours. One thing does intrigue me, though; do our respective connections with Kamijou-san have anything to do at all with the issue of Mitsuari-san?”

“I’m quite fine with answering your question.” responded Seria. “Kamijou-kun mentioned to me on a previous occasion that he knew Mitsuari-san. To what extent I have neither inquired, nor investigated.”

“Intriguing.” commented Misaki. “In line with keeping our discussions honest, as we’ve agreed to, I truly am unaware of that fact. Perhaps I could find a way to politely inquire about that when next he and I meet … unless per chance there is a wish or desire on some unknown person’s part that I sever my association with him.” There was a very subtle change in Misaki’s voice and mannerisms as she uttered that last sentence, which did not go un-noticed by the older girl.

“Whoever has such a wish or desire, as you put it, that is their choice.” Seria came back smoothly. “In my opinion, only an immature child would act or conduct themselves in that way, regarding someone who is, at this moment, just a friend. Therefore, I don’t impose any limitation or restriction on Kamijou regarding with whom other than myself he may or will interact, associate or have dealings. Of course, if our current relationship should one day change from what it presently is, … as you said, some things should be kept in confidence.”

“Of course.” remarked Misaki.

After about two or three seconds of silence, it was Misaki who spoke up: “Well, this has been most enlightening, and I do hope you get to the bottom of the matter of Mitsuari-san, especially if as you said, there’s more to the matter than what appears on the surface. Notwithstanding, our time together is drawing to a close, and I’m certain that you no doubt have things to attend to, as do I. Might there be any particular thing you may wish to say, before we part company?”

“As a matter of courtesy, there is something, which I probably need say only once.” stated Seria.

After a further pause, Seria spoke again while arising from her seat: “To be up front, Kamijou Touma was hurt by the discovery of what happened to Mitsuari-san. I happened to be a witness to his coming to grasp with learning of her death. To make a long story short, … and I speak not so much as a Board Director’s advisor, but more as Touma’s friend ... from this moment on, I am on the lookout for anything … or anyone … that might cause him pain of any kind. If ever I deduce that the possibility of that is present, I will take whatever action I see fit.”

“Such friendship ability is commendable, to say the least.” was Misaki’s response, in turn rising to stand before Seria. “I have no objection to taking that advice into account, to whatever degree I choose, in my own dealings with Kamijou-san from this point on. Of course, and for my own reasons, it should be understood that my life is mine to live as I choose. While I acknowledge certain things which might impose some limiting ability upon my choices, anything else … or anyone else ... regardless of what or who they are, counts for nothing.”

“Then it is reasonably accurate to assume that we have a particular understanding between us, and one which we should both adhere to, regarding any future dealings with each other. With that, I bid you good-day, Shokuhou-san.” declared Seria with a nod of her head, as she prepared to take her leave.

“To borrow your own comment from earlier, I probably could not have stated it better, myself. And in turn, good-day to you, Kumokawa-san.” replied Misaki, nodding her own head slightly, even as the older girl turned away to depart.

During that last exchange of words, Seria and Misaki maintained, from outside appearances, politeness and civility towards each other. However, if there was an observer in close proximity, he or she would likely have felt the tension in the air in those last one or two minutes, during which, both young ladies looked at each other unflinchingly in the eye; neither yielding or withdrawing.

 

Almost simultaneously as the meeting between those two ladies was reaching its climax, elsewhere in Academy City, as he made his way along the street where he was, dealing with his own business, Kamijou Touma suddenly sneezed twice.

A lady of seeming middle-age, who happened to be passing by at that moment, made a remark: “Oh My, it seems that someone’s talking about you, young man.”

Touma paused where he was for a few seconds, then replied politely: “Thank you, _obā-san_ … but such a thing is not likely to happen to this Kamijou-san.”, ending his reply with a sigh.

 

After Seria was no longer in view, and a casual yet careful glance indicated that the drones which had accompanied her had been withdrawn, Misaki spoke to herself: “Well, … that certainly proved to be at the least a very interesting experience. It seems I should rank your potential threat ability as high, Kumokawa-san; perhaps not in the sense of any raw power, like an esper ability, but even as a Level 0, you seem to be able, whether consciously or not, to exercise a manipulation ability that could be similar if not equal to my own. And I would know that such an ability can be just as potent as any power acquired via the Curriculum, if applied in a particular way. Although your little toys are no longer present, I feel certain that you have only withdrawn them temporarily, even as I have acted similarly. While perhaps at this moment I cannot predict the future, a part of me seems to look forward to what might happen if ever we have another … encounter. For now, I think you also feel the same, even if you may decline from revealing that to me.”

Even as her internal monologue concluded, Misaki’s clique members who had accompanied her to the Dianoid gradually approached her where she was. Before anyone else could speak, Misaki stated simply: “Based upon what took place today, from this moment unless or until it is decided otherwise, Kumokawa Seria-san is to be subjected to minimal yet consistent observation. However, no attempt should be made to directly confront her, unless I give any instruction to that effect.”

“Understood, Shokuhou-sama.” was the general response.

 

From that day forward, Shokuhou Misaki and Kumokawa Seria, via their respective means and methods, maintained a discreet, yet consistent eye and ear upon each other (at least if or when they were out in public). However, no action was initiated by either young lady towards the other. It might remain a guess whether any such thing might have taken place, up to a rather fateful occurrence, which, although in this case did not produce any fatality, proved itself extremely troublesome to those concerned.

Some weeks later after her meeting with Misaki at the Dianoid, Seria was summoned to the School’s Staff Room one afternoon, to be told that a call had been made to her. The caller, surprisingly, was Tsugutoshi. Curious as to why on this occasion he did not simply send her a message, to which she would reply in due course, Seria took the call from within the private room. There, Tsugutoshi revealed that someone was currently warded at A Certain Hospital, following an incident of as-yet unknown origin.

“I apologize for interrupting your normal routine, Kumokawa, but part of me believed you would wish to learn of this sooner, rather than later.” was Tsugutoshi’s words.

“That’s quite all right.” Seria replied in turn, “but as one might guess, I’m now curious to know just who has been hospitalized.”

“The person is Kamijou Touma-san.” Tsugutoshi responded.

Upon his revelation, and for a few seconds, if someone observed Seria closely at that moment, she went, figuratively speaking, as white as a sheet. Finally recovering her ability to act, she asked: “How is he?”

“At the moment, the report that has reached me is that his condition seems to have been stabilized, although initial indications were that his injuries were originally considered critical, if not life-threatening.” remarked Tsugutoshi. “Kamijou-san is currently under observation, but aside from medical staff, visitors will not be allowed to see him for perhaps another 24 hours from now.”

“I see. And this incident in which Touma-kun was involved … is there something abnormal about it?” inquired Seria, a slight tremor in her voice.

To which, Tsugutoshi replied: “Suffice it to say that my initial inquiries into the incident encountered various roadblocks and impediments, all of which bore resemblance to an attempt to conceal the truth of the matter. My first impression is that, in all likelihood, this reflects the actions of one or more elements from the City’s Dark Side. If anything more is uncovered, I will arrange to send it to you at my first opportunity, Kumokawa. Also, I have arranged with your School’s administration, so that, if you wish to leave classes early on account of this, you may.”

Taking a few moments to ponder things, Seria replied: “Thanks for that, Tsugutoshi-san, but it’s probably better to maintain the normal appearance of things as far as possible. Even if I leave early now, I probably cannot visit Kamijou-kun for another day, as you indicated. The best thing I can do for the moment, is assist in finding out just what happened.”

“Understood.” was Tsugutoshi’s response. “To that end, I am arranging to share with you my level of information access. Clearance should likely be confirmed by the close of school hours today.”

After ending the call, and via a good many deep breaths to compose herself, Seria rejoined her class and her daily routine … trusting if not hoping that no-one would notice anything amiss. Granted it proved to be a rather herculean task, considering that it involved someone she had already decided was important to her, but Seria pressed on.

Once school had closed for the day, and even though indications were that no visitors were allowed to see him for at least another day or so, Seria couldn’t help diverting from her usual route home, to pass in the vicinity of A Certain Hospital where Touma was warded. It was not the only Hospital in Academy City, but the reputation of its chief doctor, known only as Heaven Canceller, gave virtually all its patients and their well-wishers assurance that things would work out all right. Coincidentally, or perhaps not so, as she approached the building, Seria discovered that she was not the only one possibly interested or concerned about Touma. There ahead of her, standing on the pavement, looking towards the building, was Shokuhou Misaki. Curiously enough, a quick cursory glance suggested that there were no other Tokiwadai students in the immediate vicinity.

Even as Seria drew closer, Misaki slowly turned and walked away. There was no indication regarding whether she registered the older girl’s approach, but Seria somehow sensed, rather than deduced via physical observation that something was seemingly weighing on the mind of the Level 5 Esper, for her to act in that manner.

“It’s quite possible Shokuhou-san has learned of Touma-kun’s hospitalization, via her own methods.” Seria remarked to herself. “Well, assuming he can receive visitors tomorrow, it’s possible he may have more than one, at any given time.”

 

The next day did indeed come, and as soon as possible after school had ended, Touma received a visit from Kumokawa Seria. Aside from various bandages wrapped over his body (so far as was visible), he seemed his usual self. Choosing her words carefully, Seria asked: “So, just what the hell did you get yourself into, Touma-kun?” … not caring that at the moment, she addressed him by his first name, or that a hint of irritation and worry might be carried over in her voice.

”Some of the details may still be unclear, Kumokawa … the doctor told me they’re keeping me under observation for perhaps one more day.” was Touma’s reply, “… but I do recall some parts of what happened. Short and simple; two nights ago, someone was being attacked by a group of persons. I happened to be there, when it happened. I was the only other person present, but I decided to intervene anyway.”

“I’m almost scared to ask, but I’ll ask anyway … who was it that prompted you to potentially put life and limb on the line, as I understand you did?” asked Seria.

There was an eerie silence for a few moments before Touma spoke up: “That’s the strangest part. I have a recollection of the attackers, I recall us … the other person and myself … at first running away; although looking back, some of them were riding motorcycles and skateboards; some even wore roller skates. Escaping on foot was never going to work. In the end, it seemed we took a stand and faced them. They were wearing some strange uniforms; nothing I’ve ever seen before. They seemed to be armed with either some sort of explosives or some kind of sticks or staffs. In the end, I was literally the shield blocking their attacks on … the other person, while somehow, one by one, our opponents were being taken out.”

“Okay, this is even creeping me out, Touma.” Seria came in swiftly. “Granted you said you’re likely here for another day of observation, but, unless some problem in your head is still to be fixed, you’ve been talking in a strange way about the person you said you were protecting.”

“I know that, and it does bug me.” was Touma’s response. “ _I can recall nothing about the person who I was with … no face, no figure, no name_. Someone else was there; I’m sure of that, but I simply can’t remember anything about him, or her. I can’t recall anyone else being there during the fight, so unless something else clicks in, I can only assume the person … whoever it was … somehow managed to stop those guys.”

“Did anyone from Anti-Skill come to get a statement regarding what happened?” was Seria’s next question, after trying to digest what was said.

“Yeah, some officers came by this morning.” Touma replied. “I’ve told you essentially what I told them. My doctor says not to worry too much about my apparent inability to recall who I was with, but this Kamijou-san finds it strange that he seems to have some recall of everything else.”

 

That sort of selective amnesia over what was apparently a life-or-death struggle was certainly mysterious, but, even if a part of her was very curious to peruse the medical records of his treatment, Seria gradually rationalized that, even if she could indirectly obtain said records, it might not shed much light on the matter, at least not without deeper research. Still, it was a possible avenue to explore in getting to the bottom of what happened, so that idea was filed away for the moment.

After bidding Touma good-bye and leaving the Hospital, Seria was curiously surprised to once again see Shokuhou Misaki, seemingly in the same spot as before, and looking towards the building. Just like yesterday, Misaki seemed unaware of Seria’s presence, even as the older girl decided to approach her once more.

On closing the gap between them, Seria spoke: “We meet again, Shokuhou-san.”, more out of politeness than anything else.

Misaki made no movement for about a second or two, before she turned to see Seria about a foot away. At that point, she simply replied: “Kumokawa-san.”

As if to break the strange silence between them, Seria spoke again: “I’ll assume that you’re here for a similar reason as I am, if not the same … to visit him. I’m not sure exactly when visiting hours will be over, but there’s no-one with him right now, at least up to when I left.”

“Thank you, but I’ve paid him a visit earlier, today.” replied Misaki, a strangeness pervading her voice and mannerisms. After a pause, she spoke again: “I would only ask one thing of you right now … did Touma mention any details of what happened to him?”

At that, Seria was about to quip that Misaki’s Esper ability should be able to determine that without use of words, but something in the younger girl’s behavior made her opt to forego that response for another: “He told me some of what he recalled having taken place. I’m not sure whether I should say this much, but I’ll take a chance; it seems he remembers much of what happened, except for someone who was supposedly with him when the incident occurred.”

At that utterance, Misaki seemed to tremble for a moment, even as her face turned pale. It was a reaction to something that Seria did not miss. At that point, Seria continued: “Judging from your reaction just now, it seems that you already know what I’ve disclosed … maybe even something more.”

“For now, Touma is alive and, at the least, he is recovering, and that’s good enough for me.“ was Misaki’s response. “You are free to look deeper into this matter; I have no reason to place any obstacle in your path to your doing so. Maybe it would be better if you find out the truth about what happened instead of myself. That aside, our mutual ‘understanding’ still stands. With that, I bid you good evening, Kumokawa-san.” stated Misaki, nodding her head as she turned and walked away.

“Rest assured, I will be looking into this. And if it turns out that you and I must meet again concerning it, we will meet again, Shokuhou-san.” Seria declared to herself, even as she watched Misaki walk on until she was out of sight, before proceeding on her own way.


	7. A Curious (if not Hilarious) Development

Just to briefly recap, following the resolution of three male students’ stalking activities on her, and on her employer’s recommendation, a certain female second-year high-school student had from that point on taken up an alternative accommodation arrangement, mainly to minimize the risk of a repetition of that incident. Partly because she felt no inclination to do housekeeping on her own, and considering it good practical training, Seria had decided at some point to engage her younger sister and maid-in-training, Maria, to take on such tasks.

One particular day, Maria arrived at one of said places of residence, accompanied by her classmate and fellow maid-in-training … a young girl named Tsuchimikado Maika … to (quite literally) ‘clean house’. Once the security system had been disabled (Seria had passed the necessary unlock information to Maria previously), the two maids-in-training entered the place, eager to begin work.

What met them was, to say the least, a surprise. To make a long story short, there was practically little or no housekeeping work to be done. Maria was surprised at this development, perhaps at the moment more than Maika.

“Ooooh, … I think you said it’s been like this for a few weeks now, Maria.” quipped Maika. “And I’ve previously seen one of those other places, where it was a true battleground for a maid’s work.”

“I’m as mystified as you, Tsuchimikado.” was Maria’s reply. “I mean, we’re talking about my big sister, who can be quite the slob at times, even if she’s considered a genius at her high school. I’m almost certain no-one else was sent here before us, so I can only assume she did the clean-up work here, herself.”

“So, just what could have caused this turn-around in your sister?” was Maika’s next question.

Maria furrowed her brow as she strove to come up with an answer. Suddenly and after a few moments, her brow unfurrowed as a cat-like grin gradually appeared on her face. Turning to her fellow maid-in-training, Maria declared: “There can be only one logical conclusion … my big sister has gotten interested in a guy.”

At that statement, Maika’s face immediately lit up like a lightbulb (proverbially speaking). Her eyes opened wide, even as she squealed with excitement: “Ehhhhhhh, ….. what is this breaking news flash you’re revealing? Your big sister whom you’ve often described as seemingly having no interest in boys up till now … has possibly awakened?”

“It’s the only explanation I can think of that makes sense.” came back Maria, perhaps not as fired up as Maika, but interested nonetheless.

Seemingly barely able to contain her interest, Maika fired back: “Naturally, you must take on the role of a good little sister and investigate this gentleman, who seems to have sparked such a thing in your sister!”

“Oi … not so fast.” Maria fired back herself. “Generally, Seria- _nee-san_ and I tend to skirt clear of each other’s personal affairs, even with our sibling relationship. Still, there is something in what you suggest; after all, I can’t let some undesirable character get close to my sister. Investigation will definitely take place, … but I’ll be discrete about it, of course.”

“Of course.” came back Maika, now bearing a similar cat-like grin, even as both girls simultaneously engaged in a high-five with each other.

 

While perhaps not as much of a showcase to Academy City on the whole (or to the world-at-large) as the Daihaseisai, the Ichihanaransai (or Ichihanaran Festival) had its own appeal to some, primarily as it also indirectly serves as a recruitment vehicle for students about to make a transition from one school level to another. A Certain High School was certainly no exception to that rule, so, like many other institutions, and of course within the limits of the financial grant given to each school for that purpose, the School on the whole aimed to go as far as possible to attract as many as possible of those middle-school students who would soon be undertaking their finals.

Perhaps as a means of both relaxation and stress relief from her advisory work, Seria had volunteered to join the Organizing Committee looking over all of the endeavors planned by her School for this year’s festival. Granted she was not initially placed in any definite supervisory position, but, in all likelihood, thanks to her intellectual skills as they were applied towards planning and foreseeing certain things, not to mention (so-to-say) getting the most out of the festival’s budget, Seria was gradually being relied upon more and more to indirectly yet surely get things done, as the days progressed towards the actual date of the festival. Of course, it would be naive to regard her actions as completely altruistic. Indeed, a part of her hoped that Kamijou Touma would be among those final-year middle-school students who visited her school on the festival day, so it wouldn’t at all hurt to make a good impression on him. At the same time, it would be in poor taste to come out directly and ask him to visit her school on that day … there is such a thing as pride, after all.

 

At last, and without covering all the intricate details, the actual day of the Ichihanaran Festival dawned upon Academy City. In the spirit of it being a festival rather than a regular school day, participants were permitted to forego their standard school uniforms, within limits imposed by each school’s administration, of course. Accordingly, various costumes were worn by those students who had erected and were running stalls on the school compound. Meanwhile, the female members of A Certain High School’s Organizing Committee opted on that day to wear either the traditional _miko_ attire, or a _yukata_ , while those male members who opted to do so, donned the _monosuke_ , or male version of the kimono, with usual accessories. Seria was one of those who opted to skip the school uniform for that day, so it was no surprise when many eyes (of both genders) turned and gazed for a while to see the school’s “Beauty-Sempai’ adorned in a floral-patterned yukata, complete with traditional footwear. Indeed, if her rather impressive physique was noticeable when she wore her school uniform, it was perhaps even more accentuated via the yukata. It actually got to the point where photographs were taken (albeit without attracting much notice) and circulated by some students to their acquaintances or friends outside, thereby gradually increasing the volume of visitors to that school that day. Female students (particularly the current first-years) sighed if not squee’d at the sight of “Beauty-Sempai in a yukata”, while some male thoughts (as expected of that age group) went instinctively to debate … whether aloud or silently … whether it was being worn in the ‘traditional’ manner, i.e. without any underwear present.

Even as she settled into her assigned station within her classroom, which had been temporarily converted into the Committee’s base-of-operations for the festival’s proceedings, Seria reflected for a moment on her earlier changing out of her school uniform and donning the yukata. That took place with assistance from Maria, who had accompanied her to Seria’s school, for that express purpose. Naturally, in such an outfit, rapid movement would be difficult if not outright impossible, but Seria reasoned that nothing should happen that day requiring such a thing.

“Mmmm, ….. it suits you well, if I may say so as your _imouto_.” commented Maria, as the final touches were applied. “No doubt you’re going to turn many heads your way … unless perhaps you have yourself set on turning just one.”

“Oi … that’s a questionable way of talking to your _nee-san_ , Maria.” retorted Seria, in the typical exchange style usually adopted by siblings. “And just what kind of talk are you engaging in, you middle-schooler?”

“Time may yet tell whether I’m just speculating, or stating a fact.” Maria came back smoothly, “although I’m surprised you decided to wear your yukata ‘like that’.”

“It was agreed among all the girls on the committee to do so, and we’re supposed to be in the spirit of today being a festival.” was Seria’s reply. “Besides, I had no plans to be up and about much today, so one day of that should be fine. Of course, if anyone looks too closely, subject to my mood, if they don’t desist upon a polite warning … it may be revealed whether I can still execute ‘full-on soap-opera’ mode, even while wearing this.”

“Sure.” was Maria’s response to that. “Well, you’ve suggested what time I should return to help you change clothes again after the festival comes to a close. So, until then … enjoy yourself, _nee-san_.” With that, Maria took her leave, while Seria secured her regular clothes and belongings, before proceeding to her classroom.

As indicated, today was intended to be just a day of relative relaxation and quiet activity, especially after all the preparatory work that led up to this moment. It was agreed previously that the male members of the Committee would do the bulk of physically patrolling the school, and any problems or incidents would be reported back to the base, either via smartphone or over an I.P. Network set up just for today by the school’s I.T. Department.

Of course, if one believed that Luck, Chance and Fortune were sentient entities acting in the world, the argument could be made that they had other plans for that day.

 

It was not immediately recalled who first pitched the idea, but it was agreed that visitors to the School, particularly the final-year middle-school students, would be offered a complimentary cup of _amazake_ , which is basically a sweet, low-alcoholic version of traditional _sake_. It was probably justifiable, as technically, most students even up to the final year of high school were all still underage with respect to consuming alcohol (at least in public). Even more significantly, oft-times, there was practically no way to determine a person’s tolerance level to alcohol, except by experience. That was a fact that would be demonstrated spectacularly that day.

As the day progressed, some bottles of amazake found their way up to the Staff Room and Teachers’ Lounge on the School’s upper floor. Thinking that today would run relatively smoothly and without serious incident, some of the staff decided there would be no harm in having a sip themselves, and in fact, proceeded to do so. That conception turned out to be an illusion, when one of the teachers … specifically, Yomikawa Aiko (a gym teacher at the School, when not operating as an Anti-Skill Officer), on receiving a cup of the brew, discovered that something was not right, when the scent of the cup’s contents reached her olfactory senses.

“Hold up, … what’s going on here?” declared Yomikawa, before letting her tongue touch the liquid in the cup. A moment later, she exclaimed in surprise: “What the hell is pure sake doing here?”

“Ehhh? … are you sure this is sake, and not amazake, Yomikawa?” inquired one of the other staff members, who may or may not already have begun to get drunk?

“I’m certain.” replied Yomikawa, not mentioning that she was one of a hard-drinking trio (outside work hours, of course) that included her Anti-Skill partner, Tessou Tsuzuri, and, surprisingly enough, Tsukuyomi Komoe, so that, from (so-to-say) experience, she recognized sake when it was before her.

Swiftly reaching for the open bottle, a thorough look at the label stated that the contents were supposed to be amazake, yet the contents of the bottle was definitely not. A moment later, the realization clicked with Yomikawa: “Don’t tell me the consignment of amazake somehow got sake mixed in with it, or that it’s all sake?” With that, she dashed quickly out of the lounge.

 

Meanwhile, around mid-morning that day, Kamijou Touma showed up at A Certain High School, together with some of his classmates. Up to that moment, he himself hadn’t seen any of the photos of Seria wearing a yukata. However, recognizing the uniform by some of the students as they entered the building, he decided to check this school out … and possibly running into Seria wouldn’t be a bad thing, either. Like virtually all visitors, Touma and his classmates were offered a drink of ‘amazake’, which he accepted.

Two cups later in his case (at first it might have seemed strange that the girls running the booth opted to offer him a second cup), something strange took place. Simply put, Touma, having actually consumed 100 per cent sake, had become, to put in bluntly, drunk. He was perhaps in no danger of being sick, or falling into unconsciousness, yet he was definitely intoxicated. Notwithstanding, Touma somehow managed to stay on his feet, though at times drifting from side to side. Even more curious to the casual onlooker, such as his classmates, Touma seemed to be getting quite a bit of attention from the female students; not only those running the booth, but others in the immediate proximity. The possibility that the girls had also inadvertently consumed sake instead of amazake was there, but, whether they did or not, it was still a strange sight to behold.

“Uh, … may we know your name?” a bespectacled girl with pigtails asked, with a faint but visible blush on her face.

“Touma, … Kami-(hic) … shorry, … Kamijou Touma.” was Touma’s reply, as best as he could articulate in his present state.

A few girls present sighed. Some even murmured rather loudly: “So Cute”. Needless to say, Touma’s classmates (all boys) and most male students looking on were surprised.

“So, what do you think of our high school so far, Touma-kun?” spoke up another female student, sending most males into shock at her addressing Touma by his first name, so soon after being introduced.

“Ehhhhh, … I kinda like what I’ve sheen so far.” replied Touma. “Of course (hic), I should shee as much as I can before I chooshe which high shchool to aim for.”

“Well, then,” declared another girl aloud, “it’s probably right to ensure Touma-kun sees as much of our school, so that he chooses to come here. Is everyone with me?”

The dozen (or more) female students present replied with hands or fists thrust into the air above them, and a resounding: “Ohh!”, effectively signifying their agreement with the idea.

Thus it was that a drunken Touma, surrounded by a group of female high-school students, from all three years (all under varying levels of intoxication, possibly), and an almost equal number of males trailing behind, either out of fascination or jealousy, began an impromptu tour of A Certain High School, and one which might be recorded in history as (to put it politely) a most extraordinary event.

 

Stopping at a closed door, one of the girls proceeded to open it (without knocking), before gently pushing Touma in front of the group as they entered the room. One of them announced rather exuberantly to the room’s occupants: “Everyone … this is Kamijou Touma-kun! He’s aiming for our high school after his finals, so we’re giving him the full tour!”

Curiously enough, Touma seemed to retain enough presence of mind to exercise his manners by bowing slightly, while saying (even with a slightly slurred tone): “Good Morning, everyone – shorry for intruding (hic).” In all likelihood, he was still intoxicated (at least to a degree), so that it didn’t clearly register to him that he had been brought into a changing room, occupied at that instant by over a dozen female students from an as-yet unidentified class, and all in various stages of undress. Naturally, a few of the girls in the room immediately sought to cover themselves, screaming: “Kyaaaa!”. Curiously, some of them seemingly froze in place, even as a thought registered in their individual minds regarding this young male student standing before them; a thought that effectively said: “Ooooh, … He’s a Cutie.” Even more curiously, one or two of the girls decided aloud: “Hey, that sounds like fun … I’ll come along, too!”, before swiftly donning either their school uniform or their costume for the day. Of course, not detecting any sign of the stereotypical reaction to such a thing (no slap to face, no hurling of any nearby inanimate object, etc.) the males present (all of them except Touma being outside the changing room) had their collective reaction escalated from outright shock to bordering on jealous rage.

Another stop along the tour, turned out to be a science laboratory. The entry was done is practically the same manner. This time, the laboratory was occupied by a mixed group of students, accompanied by an older woman wearing a lab coat over her regular clothes; presumably a teacher, if not a teacher’s assistant. It was not clear to the visiting group just what was going on in the laboratory at that moment. However, the surprise entry was such a distraction, that the teacher, who was in the middle of pouring a bottle of some unknown substance into a flask on the bench before her, seemed to either pour out more than originally intended, or to pour it into the wrong vessel. The result was a small explosion, followed by a cloud of blue smoke bellowing forth to envelop the group around the lab bench. Fortunately, no toxic or harmful substance was released into the surrounding atmosphere as a result, but whatever was in the smoke thus inadvertently produced gradually demonstrated a curious effect … specifically, those gathered around the bench slowly began to scratch themselves, at times focusing on some hard-to-reach body areas. By that time, the tour group had moved on.

Yet another stop was another changing room; only this time, it was one assigned to male students. Just as before, the girls opened the door, led Touma in and introduced him to the room’s occupants. In similar manner as when the girls’ changing room was ‘visited’ earlier, while perhaps there was no “Kyaaaa!”, there were many jaw drops as a supposed ‘sacred space’ was invaded by girls.

 

All of this (and more) was keenly observed by the males who followed, including some members of the Organizing Committee, who, after they had regained their composure, reported these developments back to their base … specifically, Seria’s classroom. However, and to make a long story short, it turned out that neither Seria, nor the dozen or so other girls stationed there were in any shape to do much about things at the moment, since, as it turned out, the bottles of ‘amazake’ that were located there contained ‘the pure stuff’. While perhaps there was no sort of outrageous or extreme behavior taking place (if things were allowed to progress a little longer, who knows?), the girls had collectively drained the contents of the bottles of ‘amazake’ that were present. Nonetheless, they were still generally coherent enough to take note of reports reaching them from their male colleagues … especially about what was going on regarding a certain male middle-school student.

On watching the monitor screen set up in the classroom and witnessing the feedback of the impromptu tour … inclusive of a video clip or two …, Seria remarked in a slurred sing-song tone, all the while with a dopey grin on her face: “Eh-heh-heh, … there goesh Touma-kun.”

“Hmm?” one other girl was quick to reply, “do you know that boy, Kumokawa?” Almost at once, and notwithstanding their individual intoxication levels, the other girls present sought to focus their attention on that sudden revelation.

“Mmm, … yesh (hic).” was Seria’s reply; after a few seconds, she continued: “He’sh a good kid.”, before breaking out into a giggling fit.

Naturally and instantly, every other girl present wanted to know about what was potentially going on, since till now, no-one could claim to have seen Kumokawa expressing any sort of interest in males.

Still under the influence of the sake, Seria drawled on: “I think he likesh older girls, too.” That was probably the trigger to the other girls.

“Hmm, … now that I look at that picture, … he is kind of cute.” was one other girl’s comment.

“Oi, … are you shuddenly taking an interesht in my _kouhai_?” replied Seria, a strange tone entering her voice, even while intoxicated. Instantly, cat-like grins sprouted on the face of every other girl in the room.

“ **Your _kouhai_?**” was the collective exclamation towards Seria.

“You bet.” Seria responded without missing a beat, pausing a moment before continuing. “I’m gonna be first to be Touma-kun’s shempai.”

“So, then … what’s your relationship with this boy called Touma?” was the next question voiced by more than one Committee member, leaning in eagerly to get the answer.

“Mmmm, …..” Seria hummed aloud, before replying in the same sing-song tone, with a smirk: “ _It’sh … a … she- … cret_ (hic).”

A chorus of “Whooo’s”, perhaps not necessarily in harmony with each other, erupted from the other girls at that moment.

 

Almost simultaneously, and having just come down from the Roof of the School Building (accidentally interrupting what was probably a confession moment between a pair of students who were there prior to their arrival), as Touma’s grand tour continued, one of the girls put forth the question: “Ne, Touma-kun … by chance is there any girl around that you like?”, prompting a few other girls to whisper: “So Bold!”

Touma’s own inebriated state had gradually began to wear off, although it had not fully disappeared, so he was able to reply perhaps more coherently than earlier: “Now that you mention it (hic), … I think a girl I know is a student here right now.”

Similar to Seria’s case, a combination of “Whooo’s” and “Squee’s” erupted from most of the girls around him, even as Touma continued: “Lesshee, … Kubo … no, Kuro, … Kumo … ah, I remember, now; _Kumokawa_.”

The collective gasp and jaw drop by both male and female students at that utterance, if it were a tangible physical force, might have reverberated throughout the Building. In the next instant, questions started flying from all directions, mostly from the girls present, and all generally along the line of: “What … you know Kumokawa-senpai? What’s your relation to her?” As might be expected, most of the boys (particularly those who were students of the High School) gradually began looking at Touma with no small amount of venom in their eyes at the revelation.

“Wonder if Kumokawa’s here, today … I should at least say hello.” murmured Touma. It was a suggestion that would not be refused.

“All right, everyone.” declared one of the girls. “Possibly the climactic moment of Touma-kun’s grand tour is before us. We’re taking him to see Kumokawa-sempai at work!”

“Ohh!” replied the other girls in tow, once more hands or fists stabbing the air above them in unison.

 

Minutes later, the group arrived in front of Seria’s classroom. Curiously enough, a few took a moment to straighten up Touma’s clothing, which had become slightly twisted out of place during the walk-about. Then, with a knock on the door, and calling out: “Excuse Us!”, the group entered the classroom. The occupants were all gathered around Seria where she sat, presumably grilling her (figuratively, of course) regarding this mysterious young man, so that, at the moment, no-one in the room knew what this was all about.

“Kumokawa-sempai … you have a visitor!” exclaimed one of the girls very exuberantly, as she proceeded thereafter to bring Touma out from among the group to stand in front of them.

The collection of girls parted so that Seria was able to see who this “visitor” was. Touma was gently nudged forward so that he walked a bit towards them, stopping to bow slightly, saying: “Good Morning, Kumokawa-san … everyone.”

For the space of two seconds, not a sound was heard in the room. Then, slowly Seria rose to her feet, before training her eyes on Touma, with a strange look in her eyes, that, admittedly, no-one in A Certain High School had ever seen before, concerning her. Some with the requisite ‘experience’ would translate that look into “target sighted”.

Seconds later, even as a beaming smile formed on her face, and while likely still relatively intoxicated, Seria exclaimed rather loudly: “Everyone, look … my kouhai has come to viz-hit me!”, followed almost immediately by a hiccup.

As much as jaws collectively dropped (both male and female) at that, together with yet another outburst of “Whoo’s” and “Squee’s” (mostly from the girls), the next move on Seria’s part was totally unexpected, and, considering that she was wearing a yukata, should have been practically impossible. Taking a step clear of the desk and table where she was, Seria then hurled herself at an unsuspecting Touma. Having barely an instant to exclaim: “Oi!”, Touma immediately braced himself so that, hopefully, neither of them would fall to the floor; yet Seria’s momentum was enough to send them both reeling back, so that, in a rare bout of fortune (perhaps), Touma was thrust into a nearby chair. The chair was a wide-bodied chair with arm-rests, so that Touma was able to land pretty much squarely in it, with Seria practically landing on him. The momentum caused the chair to move backwards via its rollers, but it rolled into a nearby desk, so that there was little chance of it going further or tipping over. Meanwhile, Seria’s arms were swiftly wrapped around his head, so that (to use the appropriate term), Touma was immediately subjected to “marshmallow heaven”, not to mention that, perhaps by instinct more than conscious design, his own hands were holding Seria by her waist to ensure she did not slide off him. All the while, and seemingly oblivious to those observing, Seria, all the while giggling continuously, began twisting her body back and forth so that Touma’s face was securely planted in a place where no other face had been planted before. As might be expected, ‘shock’ and ‘jealousy’ factors among the male onlookers could be said to be approaching dangerous levels. On the part of the females, the reaction was more “Whoo’s”, accompanied by a few declarations like: “Kyaa … sempai’s so bold!”

This was apparently enough to shock Touma back into almost full sobriety at this development, even though a part of him would freely admit if asked, embracing a girl, plus being in very close proximity to her rather impressive chest is nice, too. Touma managed to free his head from a most enviable position to sputter out: “K-K-Kumokawa-san ...”

Abruptly, whatever he might have said further was cut off, and rather dramatically, as, placing a finger on his lips, Seria interrupted him by saying, and rather loudly: “Uh-Uh … you call me, Seria.”, even as she began to snuggle so that she was positioned rather securely in Touma’s lap.

“Ehhhhhh?” was Touma’s flabbergasted response.

Seria’s next move was to poke him (perhaps gently yet firmly) on his collarbone three times, now speaking with a pout upon her lips and saying aloud with each poke: “Call. Me. Seria.”

As might be expected, male primal instincts were, so-to-say, starting to be stirred in young Kamijou Touma at this completely unexpected development … and it was certainly “amplified” when Seria leaned forward to whisper her name directly into one of his ears, emphasizing each syllable rather clearly: _“Se-ri-a.”_ That last whisper was followed up by a small ‘burp’, followed by even more giggling.

By now, Hilarity if not Pandemonium ensued. There was, as an ancient book of religious wisdom called it: “weeping and grinding of teeth”, particularly by some male students who, up to that moment, had held on to a hope that seemed to have now been crushed. The female students seemed to take it much better, breaking out into loud ‘Whoop’ing’; some present even applauded what they saw. Photos or video clips were taken, to appear on the Internet and/or social media sites, later. No doubt, even if it did not get immediate attention, a part of Touma was relieved if not grateful that Seria snuggled in his lap like she was obscured anyone observing whether something had “begun to rise”; although, to be frank, a part of the male onlookers would not blame him if something did. That would still not deter the majority of male onlookers from (hopefully, it was figurative rather than literal) wishing for his immediate and painful demise.

In The End, it was either a great day, or a horrible nightmare, depending on which side one took.

 

Some hours later, back in the Teachers’ Lounge, Tsukuyomi Komoe entered, to find Yomikawa Aiho effectively sprawled over a sofa in the room. She was not drunk herself, but merely worn out after having literally swept the High School, upon her earlier discovery that morning.

“You look like you could settle in and go to sleep right now, Yomikawa-chan.” was Komoe’s comment.

“Don’t I know that.” grunted Yomikawa. “Still, it turned out that, except for the ones up here, some at the entrance booth, plus some given to the Festival Organizing Committee, all the other bottles contained amazake. For those who perhaps unknowingly had their first encounter with sake, there seems to be no permanent harm done … although some of them might have a splitting headache to deal with either by tonight if not tomorrow, _jan_.”

“Well, I personally wouldn’t want these kids to have such a thing as their introduction to sake, but at least everything seemed to end all right.” responded Komoe.

“True Enough.” came back Yomikawa. “Still, with that being my priority, I have little idea of that other incident that seemed to have taken place, today. Something about a group of girls taking a young boy on a tour of the School … but that’s really all I know about it.”

“Oh, I heard some students talking about it on my way here.” remarked Komoe. “I didn’t get every detail, but it seemed they were giving the boy, who is a final-year middle-schooler, a tour of our School, to convince him to choose here after his finals.”

“Ah, … well, time will no doubt reveal whether their efforts were successful, _jan_.” was Yomikawa’s response. “Now, wonder if there’s any amazake left up here … I could do with a sip or two right now.”

 

“Something very peculiar seems to have happened here, today.” That was the dominant thought that sprung up in Kumokawa Maria’s mind, even as she entered her big sister’s school building, that evening.

From casual observation, everything pointed to the day coming to a close with minimal hassle. Even at the moment, the school’s janitorial staff proceeded with the usual clean-up activities, as may be expected in the aftermath of a festival. However, a few other things were the key to triggering the thought that currently occupied Maria’s mind at the moment. As she progressed towards her sister’s classroom, Maria passed by groups of male students. Curiously, if she took a moment to observe closely, the overall mood of each group, if facial expressions and body language were a clear sign, was one of deep despondency. One or two seemed to be even shedding tears, while being supported (physically and emotionally) by their companions. It was certainly not the typical mode of behavior expected out of a festival. Nonetheless, Maria did not stop to inquire about it, but proceeded to her intended destination, thinking: “Perhaps I’ll get answers to all this from Seria- _nee-san_ , when I see her.”

Eventually, Maria arrived at Seria’s classroom. The door was opened, so that (partially as per her maid training), Maria knocked on the door, stating: “Excuse me.”, before entering. The sight that met her there was perhaps as mysterious as what she saw upon her arrival. Out of of Organizing Committee, seven female students, including Seria, remained in the room, either seated on chairs or on desks – granted, the furniture in the room had to be restored to their usual positions for regular classes to resume the next day, but the janitorial staff had not reached that floor, just yet. What was even more curious was that there was one male in the room – namely, Touma – who was sitting on a desk, effectively surrounded by the other girls. To be more precise, two desks were pushed together, so that Seria was effectively sitting (if not reclining) on both desks, yet she was (seemingly) happily snuggled up to Touma from behind, her arms wrapped around his waist while at times she seemed to rest her head on one of his shoulders. The other girls were looking at this, with broad grins upon their faces. Touma’s face gave the impression of one who had resigned himself to his current situation – granted that, at least in his case, the effects of the sake had practically worn off, but he was now feeling the effects of the sake himself, as well as from walking the entire school building as he did earlier that day.

It took one look for Maria to say, with a deadpan expression: “ _Nee-san_ , … you’re drunk, aren’t you?”

Seria blinked, as if to focus her vision, then replied cheeringly (or it might have been the remnants of the sake in her system talking): “Ah, my littler sister has arrived (hic). Well, everyone, between her and my _kouhai_ , here, this Kumokawa-san will get home all right, ne?”

“Uh, we’re sorry about that, Kumokawa- _imouto_.” one of the other girls interjected. “It turned out that some of the amazake procured for today turned out to be sake. I guess it had varying effects upon us, based on our tolerance levels.”

“Ah, well … it’s already done, so it can’t be helped.” sighed Maria in reply. “It will, however, be a bit more difficult to get _nee-san_ home, when she’s like this.”

“Oi … not to worry, _imouto_.” spoke up another girl with a strange grin on her face. “Didn’t Seria herself say she had both yourself and Kamijou-kun to take care of that?”

“Kamijou ...” Maria replied, then turning her eyes to the young man to whom Seria, apparently still under the influence, clung.

Finding his voice, Touma spoke up, with his hand raised: “Hello, … I’m Kamijou Touma. Pleased to meet you, Kumokawa-san.”

“So polite.” intoned some of the other girls present.

To Touma’s introduction, Maria replied: “Kumokawa Maria … Seria’s little sister, as you heard. Somehow I get the feeling I’m in for an interesting story concerning you and my big sister, but I suppose it can wait until the immediate problem is dealt with; namely getting her home in this state.”

“Shouldn’t you get Kumokawa-san to change back into her regular uniform?” volunteered one of the other girls.

“Nope to that … Touma-kun is quite cozy right now, so I’m gonna stay like this for a bit.” interjected Seria, before not only snuggling closer to Touma but also breaking out into another giggling fit. The other girls also began smiling, if not giggling themselves at that, except Maria who was perhaps on the verge of facepalming. Touma of course broke out into a blush at that.

“In _nee-san_ ’s present state, getting her to change clothes would be difficult if not impossible.” remarked Maria. “Perhaps in a few more hours as she sobers up some more, but the main problem still remains ...”

With that, Maria’s voice trailed off into silence, until, a few moments later, she and the other girls present, slowly turned their faces towards Touma, broad smiles forming upon each of their faces, as if they all tuned in to the same idea.

Shuddering under their collective gaze, as if perhaps he also realized what they had just thought up, Touma could only sigh: “ _Such Misfortune_.”

 

A good few minutes later, preparations for getting Seria home were practically complete. It took the combined physical efforts of all the girls present, since even while inebriated, it was virtually impossible to convince Seria to fully release her grip on Touma, even for a moment. The decision arrived at was that Touma was designated the one who would carry Seria via “piggy-back” to her destination. Maria had looked up and had access to the nearest such place, so that, naturally, she would accompany the young man carrying her sister. The only potential problem was that Seria was still wearing her yukata, and wearing it “like that” - a fact known only at the moment by Maria and the other female students present. In the end, and with help from the others, Maria opened the yukata sufficiently enough so that Seria automatically and seemingly quite willingly wrapped her legs around Touma’s waist. Simultaneously, a jacket borrowed from one of the other girls was tied around Seria’s own waist and draped, so as to minimize the chance of anyone seeing “that which should not be seen”. It also took a few minutes to coach Touma into the proper angle at which he should position himself, so that he could carry Seria in that manner, with minimal risk of either falling forward, or backward. At least they could use the elevator in the Building to get from where they were to the Ground Floor.

Even as all were about to depart (by which time, the janitorial staff had reached that floor of the Building), the other girls all said to Touma (almost in unison, and with broad grins): “ _We’re leaving Kumokawa-san in your care now, Kamijou-kun. You’ll take good care of your ‘sempai’, won’t you?_ ”

Releasing one hand momentarily from gripping one of Seria’s arms draped around his neck, Touma gave a thumbs-up, accompanied by a nod, signifying his agreement to do so.

The departure from the classroom to the exit of the School Building generally took place without incident … except for the piggy-back arrangement being spotted by one of the few male high-school students still in the Building. The inevitable result of that was that at least one picture was taken via phone camera, which, in due time, got circulated to virtually every other male student from the High School (and possibly some others who were not students there). The picture was taken at too far away a distance to reveal anything potentially compromising, and, as stated before, only Maria and the girls on the Committee knew for certain how the yukata was being worn. Yet, the collective teenage imaginations of the male students eventually formed a unanimous conclusion about a certain male middle-school student:

**_“That Lucky Bastard!”_ **

 

The trek from that point to Seria’s and Maria’s destination proceeded quietly for the most part. Of course, it was not a continuous walk; wherever possible, stops were taken along the way, at least for Touma to rest his legs before pressing on. Even though the sun had long set, the cool evening air seemed to, at least partially, make it bearable for Touma, as well as draw Seria back to at least a state of semi-cognizance, as they went along. At some point, her legs initially wrapped around Touma’s waist gradually unfolded, so that Touma had to shift his hands to hold her in place by her upper thighs. Probably across the City, many male students of A Certain High School felt a sharp pain in their chests at that moment. Seria wasn’t completely sobered up by any means, but was at least able to articulate clearly. It was the subject of her speaking that threatened to cause problems, in various ways.

“ _Ne_ , Touma-kun … did you know that the best way for a girl to wear a yukata is … _without … any … un-der-wear_?” she murmured into Touma’s ear. Of course, Maria being close enough heard it all, but for the moment, took no action except to observe Touma’s own reaction. For himself, Touma went pale at that question, plus his whole body seemed to tremble for a moment. Even in the City’s artificial street lighting that illumined their path, Maria could see the paleness on his face steadily replaced by a blush.

Eventually seeming to find his voice, Touma spoke up: “I-I’m really not sure how you want me to process that, Kumokawa … and even so, should you be telling something like that to this Kamijou-san?”

Curiously, there was no answer. After a further pause, Maria moved in closer, to observe that Seria had apparently dozed off at that point, her head resting on Touma’s shoulder, a look of pure bliss on her face. The fact that she was drooling on Touma’s shoulder did not go un-noticed either – it naturally prompted Maria to snap a picture on her phone.

“Was that a good idea, Kumokawa- _imouto_?” Touma spoke up again.

“It’s fine, Kamijou-san.” replied Maria. “Sometimes one needs something to preserve a good event, no?”

“Uh, … not that I’m in a rush to get back home myself, but ...” Touma came back in, “how much further do we have to go?”

“Hmm, ...” was Maria’s reply, “judging from our current pace, I’d estimate a half-hour at the most. Probably that’s sufficient time for me to learn about you and my big sister; for now, I’ll settle for your perspective, okay?”

“Sure, … at least, it will likely help me stay awake myself.” Touma responded, stifling a yawn on his part. After a pause, he continued: “Seriously though, will Kumokawa be all right after all that?”

Nodding sagely, with a grin on her face, Maria came back: “Not to worry much, … aside from possibly dealing with the after-effects of drinking sake, Seria _nee-san_ should be fine.”

Suddenly Maria froze as if something entirely forgotten came to her in that instant. “Oh, … now that I think about it, I don’t know whether she made any bathroom trips before we left her School. Considering as her colleagues mentioned they might have consumed quite a bit of sake today, ...”

“That does not comfort this Kamijou-san at all.” Touma cut in, a look of dread on his face. “In fact, I’m now wondering whether we should engage in an all-out run before the possibility of ‘that’ happens.”

“A nice idea, provided you knew our destination, Kamijou.” Maria came back. “Besides, jerky movements which accompany running just might cause ‘that’ to happen much sooner. It will be all right, so don’t worry about it. Now, it’s time to start revealing certain things as I mentioned earlier, … isn’t it?”

With that, two girls and a boy proceeded on their way, with Maria already formulating what she would reveal to Tsuchimikado Maika come the next day.


	8. A Recap of Memories Both Pleasant and Unpleasant.

The date is mid-November of the current year, some days after the Ichihanaransai. The location, naturally, is Academy City, outside of Tokyo, Japan.

At a particular location, is a closed door. Moments later, and in response to one or more electronically-generated sounds, a lock unlatches and the door opens. Through that door stepped none other than Kumokawa Seria, having arrived at her current abode. After closing the door and securing it, in a habitual manner, she opened her phone to check for messages. In the midst of this, something suddenly caught her eye … specifically, the current background wallpaper on her phone screen. Unconsciously, she manipulated her phone to open the wallpaper image in full. Said image was a photograph taken by her younger sister, Maria, of Seria having fallen asleep on Kamijou Touma’s shoulder as he carried her home after the Ichihanaransai last year. Even as Seria’s gaze focuses softly on that picture, one or more past events begin replaying themselves in her mind:

 

_* Flashback to mid-October of the current year *_

It was early in the morning, before the end of last night's curfew. In similar manner as had transpired a little over a year ago, Seria had left her residence early, and, at that moment, was walking through the City streets. This time, however, whatever might have moved her to be up and about as she was, came out of a certain event, of which only a handful of persons in the City had any knowledge.

A few days ago, and following consultation with Tsugutoshi Kaizumi, he and Seria had set things in motion to retrieve those individuals known as Gemstones who were located in various places outside of Academy City, and either bring them directly into the City, or deliver them to locations, so-to-say, under the City’s control. Their actions were in response to discovering that various groups and organizations from other countries were themselves seeking to ‘appropriate’ as many Gemstones as could be found, to further their own esper development efforts. It was almost understandable that some persons would take such action, as, unless some unforseen factor came into play, they were still decades behind what had been realized to date by Academy City.

Skipping all the intricate details for the moment, the remaining Misaka Sisters were dispatched to secure and, if need be, rescue the Gemstones, wherever they were located. All indications were that the operation was successfully executed. Later, a single person named George Kingdom was subsequently identified as the mastermind behind the attempts to capture the Gemstones. However, the options for dealing with the problem posed by this person were not cut-and-dried, nor could they be considered “clean”. While on the one hand, Kingdom’s actions could be classed as engaging in kidnapping, human trafficking and other crimes, the very existence of the Sisters, if discovered by the outside world, would have revealed that Academy City itself had violated the international law banning the cloning of humans. In addition, it would at least be problematic to reveal that these mass-produced military clones were engaged in ‘various operations’ in foreign locations on behalf of Academy City. In the end, to resolve the matter with minimal risk of exposure to the world at large, it was decided that George Kingdom had to be silenced, and, for better or for worse, there was only one way to do so, which would have the least possibility of repercussions. What was perhaps significant at the moment was that Seria opted to put the move to have Kingdom killed into effect. Once again, for better or for worse, there were those within Academy City’s Dark Side, who were quite willing to undertake such a thing, for suitable remuneration, of course. Subsequently, and via the liaison affiliated with the Dark Side faction known as ITEM, a member of said faction was engaged to carry out the act. Just as with the securing of the Gemstones, that operation was successful.

However, certain thoughts gradually began surfacing in Seria’s mind a few days later … not surprisingly, they were connected to Kamijou Touma, who, by that time, had become a first-year student at her High School.

_“Would Touma have done such a thing, if he were in my position, or knew what I knew?”_

_“Would Touma approve, or accept that, out of all options before Academy City, this was the best thing to do?”_

_“If ever Touma learns about this, would his opinion about me change? Might he come to despise or loathe me? Might I have now severed any possibility of us becoming closer, or being together in the future?”_

It would be naive to think that the possibility of such a situation arising, out of her indirect yet certain involvement with the City’s Dark Side never surfaced in Seria’s mind at least once, since the day of her engagement as Tsugutoshi’s advisor. Nonetheless, possibility versus actuality oft-times proved to be two different things, as Seria gradually came to realize. At the very least, it did seem to confirm at least two things to her (in no particular order). One – she did manage to retain a sense of humanity, if those type of thoughts were present. Two – even if it was debatable whether the term: “love” applied at that moment, Seria at no time either denied or rejected her feelings for Touma … feelings which had, perhaps slowly, yet steadily been growing since the day they first met.

 

“Do you happen to know the extent of Tsugutoshi-san’s dealings as a Director, _obā-san_?” Seria asked Mrs. Tsugutoshi one evening, over tea.

Pausing for a moment, Mrs. Tsugutoshi replied: “There may be one or two gaps, but Kaizumi-san does confide in me at times, Seria-chan. To put it simply, perhaps in a more ideal world, I personally might not completely agree with some actions he has taken, or possibly had to take. But this is the reality we are in, and I accept that, sometimes certain things happen that are both unpleasant and unavoidable. And sometimes, someone has to step forward and do what others are unwilling to do.”

After a few seconds of silence, Mrs. Tsugutoshi spoke again: “Might I ask, does this have to do with that recently-concluded business regarding … I believe the term is: Gemstones?”

Putting down her teacup, Seria was silent for a few seconds before replying: “It does. May I assume you’d been told, regarding most if not all that took place?”

“I have.” was Mrs. Tsugutoshi’s response. “As I mentioned before, it is an unpleasant bit of business, to say the least. But in light of what might have happened to virtually all who reside in Academy City otherwise, I accept that what had to be done was necessary. My own personal point of view is that I would have preferred someone else to do what you did, instead of yourself.”

“It’s all right.” Seria interjected quickly. “I’m effectively involved in matters concerning the City’s Dark Side as much as Tsugutoshi-san, or anyone else. Knowing what I knew then, I didn’t think it was right for him to take that additional burden on himself. And yet, … “ Seria’s voice trailed off into silence.

After a few seconds, Mrs. Tsugutoshi spoke again, in a gentle tone and with a soft expression on her face: “Might I guess that you have one or more concerns, Seria-chan, regarding that young man of whom I’ve heard you and Kaizumi-san speak from time to time … Kamijou Touma-san?”

Seria said nothing for a moment, before raising her head to look at her employer’s wife directly in her eyes, before responding: “Your guess is correct, _obā-san_. I believe you know that Kamijou-kun is for the most part declared off-limits to the plans and intentions of all Directors. Tsugutoshi-san made me promise not to reveal to Kamijou-kun my involvement with him or with the City’s Dark Side. I understand why it had to be that way … for him to learn about that might only attract unwanted attention to him, or even endanger him. It might even prove troublesome for Tsugutoshi-san. Still, … especially after what has just happened, … I’m now worried about how Touma would regard me if he ever finds out about it; this more than anything else I’ve been involved with till now.” That last utterance came out as a soft whisper. It didn’t even register with Seria at that instant that she has switched to referring to Touma by his first name.

Silence reigned in that corner of the Tsugutoshi Residence for a minute or so, until Mrs. Tsugutoshi spoke again: “Granted you have realized, that at the present time, it would likely do more harm than good to mention any of this to Kamijou-san. Yet perhaps if for no other reason than to set your own heart at ease, Seria-chan, you could take, shall-we-say, an indirect approach to the issue before you.”

“You seem to believe there is a way I can, as you said, raise the matter indirectly with Touma-kun … at this moment, it seems I cannot think of one myself.” murmured Seria.

“I do .. it may not be perfect, but it just might determine any future course of action.” was Mrs. Tsugutoshi’s reply. “To put it as simply as I know how, it may all come down to whether Kamijou-san will judge a person’s worth solely by what they have done … whether good or bad. I cannot make any promise, but only suggest this. If you can determine that he has the capacity within him to look beyond a person’s history, then perhaps there is a chance that, one day, you can probably deepen your connection with him. And by the same token, if you determine that he cannot or will not do so, perhaps it would be better to clear the air on that sooner, rather than cling to an illusion, which might be more painful to deal with at some future time.”

A slight smile came to Seria’s face at the word “illusion”, even as she spoke up a minute or so later: “You’re right, _obā-san_. One way or another, this has to be addressed, even if as you suggest I do so indirectly.”

To which, Mrs. Tsugutoshi replied with a smile of her own: “Do Your Best, Seria-chan.”

 

Not surprisingly, it took a while before an opportunity presented itself to raise that particular issue, primarily because of Touma being outside of Academy City. Even if she had no exact knowledge of what was behind his periods of absence from school and City or the reasons for them, Seria was aware when Touma was absent, even if for the most part she kept said awareness to herself. Of course, there was the issue of his absenteeism, if it continued, likely resulting in his having to repeat his current year; something Seria felt certain that Touma had to be aware of himself.

Said opportunity came during the few days where Touma was back in the City, following his involvement … unbeknownst to most people who knew him … in the events connected to the British Royal Family and the attempted coup against the current monarch. Almost naturally, there was virtually nothing contained in any news reports … or at least those most readily accessible to the City’s population … mentioning his presence or involvement. It was during that period before he once again disappeared from School and City, that, on that early morning before the end of the curfew, Seria happened to discover him during her own walkabout. 

On that particular occasion, Seria’s trek took her to a walkway which crossed a section of the major roadway. Said walkway also happened to provide anyone who stopped to look with a rather panoramic view of that portion of the City. Having ascended up to the walkway, she spotted a lone figure roughly mid-way on the path ahead. Recalling her meeting him in the park last year after the discovery of what happened to Mitsuari Ayu, the first thought that came to Seria’s mind was that the person ahead of her was none other than Touma. That fact was confirmed as she gradually approached him. However, there was no indication that another similarly unpleasant incident had taken place this time.

Touma was looking out from his position along the walkway … elbows resting on the guardrails, supporting his upper body, and seemingly oblivious to his immediate surroundings. This time, he slowly turned his head to look at his upperclassman when she was about two metres away from him.

Pausing as if a moment was needed to register who was before him, Touma finally spoke in an almost matter-of-fact tone: “Good Morning, _sempai_.”

“And Good Morning yourself, my _kouhai_.” was Seria’s almost immediate reply. “Do I dare ask what has you up and about before the end of curfew.”

“For now, I can only put it up to restlessness … and that there’s been a lot going on, that maybe I’m looking to face up to it, or sort it out.” Touma came back. “In turn, might I ask what has Kumokawa- _sempai_ out here in, I might say, similar manner?”

“Careful, Kamijou-kun,” Seria came back, her lips curling into a sly grin as she spoke. “The reason for that is a deep dark secret which should remain so. You’d probably have a better chance instead of getting me to reveal my ‘three sizes’.”

“Even if that’s true, asking that sort of question, even if I were to get the full answer, would probably come back to bite me in horrible ways.” Touma responded, with a sigh. “Such Misfortune.”

“Mmm, … is it remotely possible that my _kouhai_ had that sort of question floating around the dark recesses of his mind?” Seria couldn’t help but carry on the topic, if only to avoid them lapsing into silence.

Touma held his gaze over the city for a few seconds before turning to reply: “Maybe it’s because I somehow feel comfortable talking to you on this, even briefly, that I can say it. Sure, this Kamijou-san would like a normal high-school experience. It’s just that, looking back on what has happened over the last … few months, such a thing is simply not to be.”

Naturally certain things were not directly mentioned, but, even if there was no disclosure of it, Seria knew in her own way of that incident which took place at the end of July of that year … one which left Touma devoid of practically all his past memories before that date. And while she did not reveal any sign of that knowledge, the recall of that incident struck a somewhat unpleasant chord within her heart; namely, among the memories lost to Touma were those which were, so-to-say, created since the day of their first meeting, over a year ago. At the same time, it was a pleasant feeling to hear Touma say it himself that he felt comfortable in her presence … that did not escape Seria’s notice.

“Might one of those things you’re facing up to or trying to sort out have anything to do with the many times that you’ve been absent from school, if not from the City itself, Kamijou-kun?” was the next inquiry from Seria.

There was silence for a few seconds before Touma spoke again: “Yes, that’s one of a few things that, try as I might, I can’t seem to avoid. I have my reasons for avoiding discussing that issue, even if at times I’m pressed for an explanation. And even word from the doctor at the Hospital after I recover from another visit may not be enough of a reason for it.”

Seria said nothing for the moment, even as she felt the underlying tone of frustration in Touma’s voice. Eventually, Touma continued: “And yet … looking back on what happened, despite the trouble it has caused, it is causing, and will probably cause me for some time, I don’t regret whatever took me out of school, or once or twice out of the City.”

“I won’t press you for an explanation about it right now, Kamijou-kun.” was Seria’s comeback, “and I have a feeling some such as Komoe-sensei might have raised the matter at least once, but, is whatever you’re involved with that takes you away worth jeopardizing your progression through school, to say nothing about your own life in general?”

There was silence for a moment, before Touma responded: “Like I said … even if I can’t explain why … I feel comfortable saying this much to you about it, _sempai_. To keep it as simple as possible, I get involved in certain things. On looking back at them, I feel certain that, if I were not there to do what I did, people would suffer in one form or another. At the time, there was nothing suggesting that a solution would appear without my being there.”

Touma paused a bit, before continuing: “I’m not at all saying that I must solve everyone else’s problems … part of me says everyone has it in them to do so. It’s just that, when I’m aware of what some of these things are about, those who are involved can’t or won’t work out a solution. Most times, they press on with actions that will likely either harm themselves or others. What’s even stranger about it all is that most times, I’m certain I don’t go looking for these situations … more often than not, and without even trying, I come across them. And I won’t walk away from such a thing, once I know about it.”

“Is it worth considering that, when these things appear before you, that your interpretation of the matter is potentially one-sided, or even that you’re being manipulated, Kamijou?” Seria inquired, a bit of seriousness tinged in her tone.

“Now that you mention it, that has proved to be true at least once before now.” was Touma’s reply. Even as that reply came forth, he paused for a moment to recall certain incidents which took place in Hawaii, as well as his being literally whisked away to England, to get involved in the coup against Queen Elizard. Touma then continued: “And chances are it may happen again if I get caught up in something in the future. There’s probably little I can do about that, especially if I learn at some point that what is on the surface is an illusion, if not an outright lie. All I can deal with is what I do in the face of such things. For me, if I realize that I made a mistake where some issue is concerned, then I must correct it, no matter what. Just maybe it might make things easier for me if those who are causing others to suffer could come to realize that sooner, if at all. But I do realize I can’t make them change their mind … all I might ever do is show them that what they’re doing is wrong.”

“Would you go so far for someone, who, as you say, is in the wrong … even if they might reject your opinion?” Seria asked.

Touma paused for a moment before turning to face his upperclassman, saying: “This might sound childish, even naive, but this Kamijou-san believes everyone deserves a chance to make wrong things right, or to straighten things out. I may not know everything, or have seen everything there is to see, but I have yet to come across someone who’s so far down a wrong path that they can’t be saved, or turned around. No matter how far down the path they have gone, I’m willing to give them a chance, even if perhaps no-one else will. Truly, I hope I never come across someone who simply cannot be saved, whether by me or anyone else … even by themselves.”

At that last utterance, even if she was sure she showed no outward sign of it, Seria felt a deep sense of relief, as the pressure that had been on her mind following the conclusion of the Gemstones affair had diminished, if not been totally dissipated. Opinions may vary as to whether it was a clear-cut answer to what had been weighing heavily on her own mind and heart, but for now, she considered it enough that Touma’s last statement meant there was hope for her, regarding the future of their relationship, notwithstanding his memory loss.

“You demonstrate at times wisdom beyond your years, my _kouhai_.” remarked Seria with a smile forming on her visage. “Perhaps it’s a pity such things are not common subjects within the Curriculum … you might otherwise be at the head of your class.”

“Story of my life, _sempai_.” Touma noted in response. “Like everything else, I just deal with it. Even so, I meant everything I said.”

Glancing at the clock on her phone, Seria came back: “Well, curfew has long ended, so it’s probably right that we make our way to school. Unless you’re going to disappear on us once again at this very instant.”

“I hope not … as this Kamijou-san mentioned before, he likes having a normal high-school experience. Being able to walk to school alongside a pretty girl fits my criteria for that … unless you have other plans.” Touma responded with a grin.

Barely able to contain her thrill at having such a moment with the object of her affections, Seria replied: “Then it’s a _sempai_ ’s duty to fulfill her _kouhai_ ’s wish in that regard. Of course, when we reach the first vending machine along the way, you’ll do the gentlemanly thing, _ne_?”

“It’s never easy for this Kamijou-san, is it.” grumbled Touma, even as they walked away together to another day at A Certain High School.

_* End Flashback *_

 

Even as that particular event gradually faded away into her memory, another less-than-pleasant past event, so-to-say, began to be re-played, so-to-say, on the screen of Seria’s mind.

 

_* Flashback to July 30 of the current year *_

It was almost a repeat of what happened over a year ago, when she got notified of his hospitalization; the cause of which seemed to be as yet undetermined. It was no easier to receive word of that now, as it was then. At least the report, such as it was indicated no serious or life-threatening condition, yet the prognosis listed, depending on one’s point-of-view, could be considered just as serious.

**Total Amnesia – complete loss of all memories prior to whatever incident caused it.**

Curiously enough, this City of Science, in addition to its advanced medical technology, had more unconventional means to deal with incidents like this, than could at present be found outside its walls. On occasion, espers with varying Levels of mental power were requested to assist Heaven Canceller or other physicians for similar cases. Of course, the more severe the case, then it inevitably called for the services of Academy’s City’s most powerful telepath, Shokuhou Misaki, a.k.a. “Mental Out”. And yet, in Touma’s own case, even that made no headway in restoring his lost memories. Naturally, the average resident of Academy City, even if they happened to know Kamijou Touma on any personal level remained clueless of these things. If for no other reason that Tsugutoshi-san had kept her in the loop regarding things, Seria was one of the few who knew. It also did not escape her curiosity that not even the mental powers of the City’s Fifth Level 5 esper could do nothing for him. 

It was for that reason, and perhaps one or more others that were unspoken, that Seria took it upon herself to visit Touma after school at A Certain Hospital, two days after learning of what happened. Granted Heaven Canceller had sufficient access to Touma’s records as a resident and student of the City to at least clue him into his identity, and perhaps some other basic facts concerning who he was. In turn, Seria used as her justification the need to bring Touma up to speed, regarding his student life, so that once discharged, he can return to school; in this case, some consultation with Tsukuyomi Komoe paved the way for that.

Still, it was unnerving for Seria to enter Touma’s hospital room on that first visit, to be met by a complete lack of recognition in his eyes; perhaps far more disturbing that anything she had encountered up to now as a Director’s Advisor. Or perhaps it was poignantly felt because it involved someone she knew, and had even come to care for. Nonetheless, she pressed on with her assigned task.

The next day, and to her surprise, Seria received a message from, of all people, Misaki. Not much has changed between them with respect to the ‘silent mutual observation of each other’, effectively established over a year ago. Yet perhaps if there was anyone observing it all, it could be noted that Seria and Misaki at least had a modicum of respect for each other, if for no other reason, than because of Kamijou Touma. Perhaps even more significant was the fact that there was no mind-controlled third party involved; upon leaving the Hospital that day, Seria had barely reach the pavement to see Misaki standing there, as if waiting for her.

“Kumokawa-san.” stated Misaki in a low enough voice, intended to not draw attention from any passers-by.

“Shokuhou-san.” replied Seria in a cool tone.

Stepping forward till they were about a foot away from each other, Misaki spoke again: “Listen very carefully; I will say this only once … there’s something you should know, if only for his sake. Please meet with me if you want to know what I know, Kumokawa-san.” Moments later, Seria’s phone gave off a notification tone. Even during that brief exchange, once they were in each others’ presence, their eyes were effectively locked upon each other; neither wavering in the slightest.

Curiosity pricked sufficiently enough, Seria nodded to signify her agreement to meet. With a nod of her own head, Misaki turned away to depart. Reaching for her phone, Seria saw a new message in her inbox. On opening it, it indicated the location to where Misaki has invited her – specifically, the Second Level of A Certain Multilevel Overpass, within District 7, and within roughly 10 to 15 minutes walking distance from the Hospital. All indications pointed to Shokuhou wanting to have this meeting right now.

 

Even as Seria progressed to the location, she spotted Misaki walking ahead of her. A cursory glance indicated that no-one else, specifically any of her clique, seem to be in the vicinity, so that, via a pre-programmed code on her phone, she turned off one or more drones she had prepared, just in case. Eventually the two of them had reached the Second Level of the Overpass. Said Level has been landscaped so that, for all practical purposes, it looked like a large sports field. There were benches located at seemingly random points along the way. Misaki came to a stop beside one of the benches, then proceeded to wait for Seria to move in closer.

As Seria came to a stop herself, Misaki spoke up: “You may sit or stand as you wish, but what I said before still stands; I will likely say this only once, so please ensure that your focus ability does not waver.” At that invitation, Seria sat on one end of the bench. Curiously enough, Misaki proceeded to sit on the opposite side.

Misaki stared into the distance for a few seconds, before she spoke again: “The person who was with Touma when that incident took place which landed him in the hospital last year … it was me.”

Seria’s eyes widened, and perhaps for an instant, her hands clenched into fists, but she made no other reaction or response for the moment. It was now Seria who spoke at that point, all the while seeking to keep her emotions in check: “The ones who attacked you and Touma … who were they?”

Misaki responded: “It took a while to confirm certain things, but I trust my investigative ability to be accurate before disclosing anything of this. They called themselves Deadlock.” After a pause, she continued: “They claim to be a group dedicated to hunting down and killing all of the City’s Level 5 Espers. Supposedly, our attaining Level 5, or our AIM fields are opposing or retarding their own development. Their targeting the Level 5’s is meant to be their revenge.”

“I’m no expert on the Curriculum, but unless they have proof of that, such an argument is utter nonsense.” Seria finally cut in, barely able to contain her feelings at the fact that Touma got caught up in such an incident, and one aimed not directly at himself.

“That is what they have come to believe, Kumokawa-san.” Misaki responded, seemingly fighting with feelings of her own. “Whether the idea was hatched in their minds over time, or whether someone fed them the idea doesn’t matter. Again, whether they did any research on going after the other Level 5’s, or they happened to select me first, I just happened to be targeted that night. As I said, it took some investigative ability of my own to uncover a few other things. Those who came after me were outfitted with equipment which gave a measure of resistance to my Mental Out. It was not possible for my ability to affect them immediately. If Touma had not been there, their numbers would have likely overwhelmed me before I could stopped their assault.”

Recalling what Tsugutoshi had disclosed on a past occasion that the same technology that ultimately awakened esper abilities might also find ways to counter them, Seria held her peace for the moment, even as Misaki began speaking again.

“For a while, we tried to outrun them, seeing that they had superior number ability on their side. Eventually there was nowhere else to run, as we were surrounded. One of them actually gave Touma a chance to leave, stating I alone was their intended target. A part of me would not have blamed him if he did. After all, he has no esper ability to speak of. And yet, … Touma refused to leave. He even scoffed at the idea one of them volunteered that I was controlling him with my ability.”

“Just so we’re clear on this,” Seria cut in at that point. “did you control him at all that time?” Misaki’s face whipped around in Seria’s direction, her eyes reflecting signs of previously suppressed pain and anger. Seria met her glare head on.

After a few moments, Misaki, seemingly having regained her composure, continued: “Put simply, so long as he either touches his head with his right hand, or even raises it, my ability does not work on him, Kumokawa-san. I have no idea why.” After a further pause, she pressed on: “As I said before, the equipment my assailants wore could be bypassed, but not immediately. Touma bought me the time to eventually take them out, even if I had to do so one by one, … _by literally being my shield_.”

Recalling all that she had learned regarding Touma’s hospitalization on that occasion, including details on the extent of his injuries, Seria suddenly realized that she was gritting her teeth, so much that they would probably hurt for a while long after.

“We did not so much win, but we survived … but as you probably know, Touma took the brunt of Deadlock’s attacks.” Misaki went on. “The EMT’s who eventually arrived believed he wouldn’t survive the trip to the Hospital. Also, having no medical knowledge ability of my own, I took their word as true when they said due to shock and loss of blood, that even on-the-spot medical treatment might kill him. And yet, I refused to accept that. In those seconds which seemed to pass like hours, it was suggested that if his pain receptors could be turned off temporarily, he might survive on-the-spot treatment so that he could reach the Hospital. I volunteered to use my ability on Touma then and there to allow the EMT’s to do just that.”

There was silence for a while, before Seria spoke: “Judging from the fact that Touma was eventually back on his feet some time later, it seems the move made was successful ….. unless there’s something more to it, Shokuhou-san.” Once more, Misaki’s face turned toward Seria’s; this time pain rather than anger shone in her eyes.

“When the doctor finally gave me permission to go see him a day or so later, I practically ran to Touma’s room … if my ability involved teleportation, I couldn’t get there faster.” Misaki spoke again. On opening the door, I was met by a blank stare … followed by the question: ‘Do I know you?’ That was the beginning of my learning that, although Touma had survived, he had lost the ability to remember me, or to retain memory of me. His doctor had later advised me that something had apparently happened in his brain, such that, any memory of me would gradually fade away. Even up to now, if Touma and I happen to meet somewhere, within a few hours, he would forget all about me. There seems to be nothing in medical science that can get at the cause of that, let alone fix it. And even though I’m supposed to be the City’s most powerful mental ability esper, I’m likewise powerless to do anything for him. Perhaps even unconsciously, I have held back from ever using my ability on Touma’s mind since that time … I’d never forgive myself if I did more damage than might have already been done.”

By the close of Misaki’s revelation, Seria’s mind was, momentarily a mass of conflicting emotions, even if she showed no outward sign of it. A part of her was, figuratively speaking and for a brief instant, pumping her fist and saying: ‘my rival has fallen’, but, seeing Misaki suppress her grief at her being cut off from Touma, the more mature side of her personality dismissed that notion as being childish.

Eventually, it was the older girl who broke the silence, with the question: “At this point, I have only two things to ask you, Shokuhou-san: why do you reveal this to me, and what happens from this point on?”

Sighing, Misaki replied: “If it’s alright with you, I’ll answer your second question first, Kumokawa-san.” Receiving a nod from Seria, Misaki went on: “It would be, at the least, troublesome to Touma if I were to appear before him, so long as he can’t remember or retain memory of me. On that basis, it is probably better that I leave him alone. Nonetheless, all I can do is hope that some way will show up to fix Touma’s memory issues, including his inability to retain any memory of me, and if ever a way is found, I will ensure it is applied; no matter who or what may be in my way.”

After a brief pause, Misaki continued: “As for your first question, I’ve revealed what I’ve uncovered about the group called Deadlock. So far as my investigative ability goes, they seem to have connections of their own deep within the City’s Dark Side … maybe even going up to one or more Board Directors. Thus far, I’m certain my actions haven’t been noticed, but if ever they are, it’s possible they or others may either come after me, or target others who have associated, or who are associated with me. I’m not so naive to think that even a Level 5 is absolutely untouchable by the Dark Side, and I won’t let anyone make a move against me, by moving against others in my stead. As a Director’s Advisor, you may be able to do things and to go in places where even I cannot, at least without being noticed. I do want those who had caused Touma pain to pay for their actions, even if part of me feels he wouldn’t want me to think or act in that way. I have every intention to stay alive, but in the event that something should happen to me, consider it a selfish wish of mine that someone gets to the root of the matter, and ensure that those at the heart of it do pay for what they had set in motion. And I’m certain, if anyone can accomplish such a task, it will be you, Kumokawa-san.”

Taking a few moments to process all that had been put before her, Seria replied in a seemingly calm voice: “I will make no promise on that last answer, Shokuhou-san, except to do some investigation of my own into this Deadlock group. When I’ve learned all that there is to learn, I’ll decide what I may or will do in that regard.”

To which Misaki responded: “To that end, I will arrange to pass on any information I have from my own investigations. It might be safer to do so on physical media via one of my associates, as opposed to using the Internet or other form of data transfer.”

Both girls stood up at that point, looking at each other for about half a minute.

“With that, good evening to you, Kumokawa-san” stated Misaki, as she turned to leave.

“Good evening then, Shokuhou-san.” was Seria’s response, waiting until the other girl was out of sight, before making her own way home.

_* End of Flashback *_

 

Even as she, so-to-say, returned to the present place and time, Seria suddenly noticed what appears to be drops of liquid on her phone screen, which was not there before. She realized them to be her tears. Closing the image browser on her phone, Seria unconsciously reached for a handkerchief in her bag, then proceeded to wipe the teardrops off her phone screen. She was then about to apply the handkerchief to her own watery eyes, only to freeze in place. The handkerchief she held in her hand was the one Touma bought for her.

Trembling for a few moments, Seria was able to regain her composure with the remark: “I hope making girls cry is not your true ability, Touma … even if you do it unknowingly.”

After drying her own eyes sufficiently enough, Seria once more gazed fondly at the wallpaper image, all the while making a promise to herself: _“Even if you don’t know about it, or never find out about it, rest assured I will keep secure the memories of our past times, Touma … both for yourself and for me. And in similar manner as Shokuhou-san indicated, if ever I come across a way to restore your memories, I will get hold of it and use it … no matter what.”_


	9. Prelude to A Search

To be blunt, the average citizen of Academy City – be they student or adult in whatever capacity – would doubtless have gone about his or her business, blissfully unaware of a number of events that had transpired since mid-November to early December of the current year. The very existence of many of these events would be probably scoffed at by some, especially if they were not directly involved in them. However, for some persons, these events were real; perhaps all too real, and, whether willingly or not, they were involved in said events, either in part or in full. And of course, it was almost no surprise to a select few that a certain resident and student of the City known as Kamijou Touma was either at the very center of, or at least directly involved in all of them. Opinions of course may vary as to whether it was purely a matter of circumstance or coincidence, or via some form of intervention or direction from some perhaps unknown agency, that caused Touma to be, so-to-say, “at ground zero”, where these events were concerned:

* The revelation of a proposal containing countermeasures against super-powered beings which was curiously accepted for implementation by the very institution that first created them, which in itself was a cover for a rather ambitious individual to seemingly transcend the supposed limits of a physical human body, if such a thing was even possible, and almost without saying, for their own purposes.

* The appearance of, and later a manhunt spanning several continents for one who was labeled “a dangerous international terrorist”, inclusive of, but unknown to all but a few, the literal destruction and re-creation of the world – naturally, it would have been deemed either a poor joke or an outright hoax to refer to said dangerous individual as a “magic god”, even if said reference was actually accurate.

* The return of someone previously thought to have died by suicide, but turned out to be merely a pawn in a plot by another ambitious if not amoral science-minded person to appropriate the powers of one of those super-powered beings previously mentioned for their own purposes.

* Another young Japanese male suddenly manifesting a strange power in one hand, following which, he and others associated with him infiltrated Academy City – an occurrence that seemed to go completely un-noticed by the City’s General Superintendent; one who was oft-times considered as omniscient, as least so far as anything transpiring within the City he had founded.

* An invasion of the so-called City Of Science, this time by beings referring to themselves as “magic gods”, and their confrontation with one who had seemingly rejected magic for science.

* Another invasion of Academy City; this time by mysterious monsters and an (at-the-time) inexplicable heat wave which crippled the City’s high-tech infrastructure (at least for a period) *

 

By early December, things had seemingly returned to a sense of normalcy. Notwithstanding the extra time and effort needed to restore everything regarding the City’s infrastructure to proper working order, Academy City’s student population at that point should have been collectively preparing themselves for their end-of-year final examinations, which would inevitably determine their status in the school year to follow the upcoming winter break.

In the specific case of one Kamijou Touma, the odds of his successfully navigating his way through the proverbial minefield that constituted end-of-year exams were, as to be expected by anyone who had any inkling about him and how things generally worked around him, not in his favor. Doubtless even after returning to school after his last stay at Heaven Canceller’s Hospital (a place which seemed at times to be as much home to him as his student dorm), while some (perhaps unspeakingly) admired his refusal to abandon hope in the face of such odds, the general consensus was that, barring some extraordinary event – of which no-one volunteered to guess its nature – Touma would be repeating his first year of high school.

In what was, for want of a better term, a rare case of fortune on his part, there were a number of persons, who had, either individually or collectively, forseen what Touma was likely to face, and had come together in various ways, even during those previously mentioned events, to help him find a way through the approaching time of trial. Naturally, Touma was neither aware of, nor informed of the plan in motion to aid him – if for no other reason than it might be a blow to his self-esteem if he learned of their actions and intentions, at least while said plan was being formulated.

The chief instigator of this plan, a certain upperclassman at the same High School to which Touma belonged as a student, was at that very moment, making her way through the streets of Academy City, going about her own business. While she had no direct involvement in all but a few of those aforementioned events, Kumokawa Seria had in time become aware of Touma’s involvement, especially at times when things seemed to be taking, or had taken a darker turn. In one particular instance – that involving the so-called “international terrorist” – she had actually witnessed part if not all of his struggles to survive that event, even if she had not seen all that he had to undergo – all the while keeping a promise made long ago to keep secret from Touma her connections to the City’s Board of Directors, and the City’s Dark Side. Her confidence in own intellectual capacity was sufficient to ensure her success in her own end-of-year exams, but at the same time, Seria had decided some time ago to find a way to help the young man of whom she was fond. And as it turned out, even during the occurrence of those events previously stated, she had secured assistance from others who, so-to-say, felt similarly about Touma. That alone was no iron-clad guarantee that their efforts would succeed, but it was a sufficient starting point upon which they could act. Coupled with the simple fact that each one of them, in their own manner, had decided to do whatever was in their power to lend assistance to the challenge before Touma to get through his exams (albeit via honest and legal means, only), at least his chances improved over and above any based solely upon his own efforts.

 

Suddenly, Seria’s passage through the City streets was interrupted by a child’s voice: “ _Onee-San_!”

The voice was that of a little girl; a voice that Seria recognized. Specifically, it was the young girl whose pet rabbit had been recovered in either dramatic or comedic fashion (anyone who witnessed the moment can judge for themselves) by Touma some months ago. She was once more in the company of her brother, and, as was almost to be expected, the mysterious rabbit (Kumu by name) was with her.

“Well, well … the keepers of the White Rabbit are here again.” Seria intoned with a smile, stooping down to meet the children at eye-level. “How have you two been?”

“We’re fine, _onee-san_.” replied the brother. “She’s gotten better at looking after Kumu. In fact, since that day, we’ve gotten a collar and a leash, so Kumu can’t get away from her that easily anymore.” Almost on cue, the young girl proudly held the rabbit out, displaying the collar and leash. Almost automatically, Seria reached out to pet Kumu on its head, even as she momentarily recalled the strange (albeit temporary) transformation that occurred when Kumu was face-to-face with Touma. However, nothing untoward took place this time around.

“Looks like all is well, so you make your _onee-san_ proud by taking good care of Kumu, O.K.?” remarked Seria as she rose up, preparing to be on her way.

“Mmm.” replied the brother with a nod.

“Ah, _onee-san_ … is that _onii-san_ okay after going to the hospital that day?” asked the little girl.

As if pondering how to respond to the little girl’s question, Seria’s mind went on a trip down memory lane.

 

_*Flashback to January of current year.*_

The New School Year Opening Ceremony at A Certain High School had concluded after a most curious “interruption”. No formal classes took place on the rest of the day – generally, second-year and third-year students were getting their new classroom assignments worked out, and first-year students were touring or getting orientation of their new school, as well as their own classroom assignments. The school day closed half-an-hour earlier than usual, with normal hours back in effect from tomorrow.

Even as practically all of the student population were gradually making their way out of the School Building, a buzz was circulating among them. The second-year and third-year students were likely more cognizant of what was happening than the first-years. To sum it up concisely, Seria had been sighted walking along the corridors. Some female students sighed (if not ‘squeed’). Many male students gazed or gawked (some with not-so-wholesome thoughts).

All the while, Seria maintained her mysterious air, without coming across as stuck-up or arrogant, but graceful and courteous throughout. While no-one sought to inquire directly, the impression conveyed was that the Beauty-Sempai seemed to be searching for something … or someone. As the word spread, more and more students drifted along to see what brought the School’s (unofficial) Idol to the supposed far corners of the school.

At length, Seria left the Building and headed towards the main gate. Ahead of her at the gate – his back was turned so that he did not see her approach, nor did he seem to pay attention to the reactions of those around him as she approached – was Kamijou Touma, apparently none the worse for wear after certain events during the Opening Ceremony. Together with him were two other males, presumably first-year students like Touma was. One of them sported blond hair and sunglasses, wearing a Hawaiian print shirt under his school jacket (which was probably a violation of the School’s dress code). The other, curiously perhaps, had his hair colored blue, and piercings in his earlobes (again, a potential dress code violation), all the while his eyes were, inexplicably, shut.

 

At the moment, a curious discussion was taking place between Touma and his two companions, later known to the whole of the School as Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Aogami Pierce, respectively:

“So, Kami-yan, any idea just how that bird made a nest in the high rafters of the hall, nya?” asked Tsuchimikado Motoharu.

“No idea.” was Touma’s reply, a twinge of frustration is his tone at recalling the earlier events of that day, “… and who’s this ‘Kami-yan’ you’re referring to? Is the universe against me to the point that people can’t say my name right?”

“It must be a matter of basic animal behavior.” chipped in Aogami Pierce. “Besides, Kami-yan should count his lucky stars that it was the eggs that landed on him, instead of ...” All three young men shuddered momentarily as Aogami’s voice trailed off into silence; Touma more than the others.

“As if I ever had any lucky stars to count.” grumbled Touma.

“A group of us stuck around to see the school’s janitorial staff coming out of the hall with the nest, nya.” remarked Tsuchimikado.”Come to think of it, I’ve no idea if anyone managed to catch the bird, let alone identify what type it was.”

“Ahh – I say it was a swallow!” exclaimed Aogami with a hint of sparkle in his voice.

Silence reigned for about two seconds between the three male students, until Touma grunted in reply: “A swallow?”

“Surely you jest, Aogami.” came in Tsuchimikado, a twitch appearing on his face.

“And why not? … swallow’s as good as any other bird, isn’t it?” retorted Aogami.

Seemingly trying to keep his composure, Tsuchimikado came right back: “Oi, I actually saw the nest when the janitors came out the hall. That thing was huge … in fact there were no twigs making up that nest, it was big pieces of branches. Just from looking, any one of those bits of wood probably weighed a least a pound, nya.”

“What’s that got to do with my saying the bird was a swallow?” fired back Aogami. In the meantime, Touma was massaging his temples as if trying to ward of a headache at the rather nonsensical comments flying back and forth from his companions.

“Look, Aogami … a swallow weighs on average five ounces. There’s no way in nature a five-ounce bird could carry a hunk of wood weighing at least a pound.” was Tsuchimikado’s response.

“You looked that up on the ‘Net, didn’t you?” came back Aogami.

“Yes, yes; the point is ever since a certain motion picture was released years ago, that’s well-documented knowledge, nya.” was Tsuchimikado’s reply.

After a few seconds of silence, Aogami put forth a new question to support his argument: “Well, … what if it was an African swallow and not a European swallow?”

Touma did a double-take at that, while Tsuchimikado seemed to ponder that response for a moment or two, then replied: “That is not altogether impossible … all right, if it was an African swallow, just maybe ...”

“A-hem ..., there one little problem with that theory.” Touma finally cut into the debate, a noticeable level of restraint in his voice. “We’re … in … pardon my language … freaking … Japan. Would either of you care to explain to this Kamijou-san what a swallow … African or European … is doing here, at THIS time of year?”

That seemed to stop the discussion in its tracks, … for a few seconds, one could almost hear the sound of the breeze blowing … until Aogami spoke up again: “Maybe it got blown here by storm winds during its migratory flight.”

Even as Touma’s jaw dropped, Tsuchimikado cut in again: “No way, nya … storm winds that strong to carry a swallow across the Pacific would have accompanied a massive hurricane or cyclone, that would have been all over the news. Also, even if the swallow could have survived the freezing temperatures, it probably would have starved to death before reaching Japan. Kami-yan does have a point on that one.”

“Then, how about the swallow escaped from the zoo?” Aogami replied, apparently unwilling to concede his postulation that the bird was indeed a swallow.

Touma blinked as if to say: “Eh?”, unless one wanted to envision his using a stronger expletive.

“Or maybe its an escaped specimen from a lab here in Academy City.” responded Tsuchimikado, a strange contemplative look on his face, “Possibly someone was testing chemicals on animals before moving onto human test subjects.”

“Swallow on Steroids!” exclaimed Aogami with a whoop, even as he raised a hand.

”Yup, that makes sense, nya!” echoed Tsuchimikado in seeming agreement, simultaneously giving Aogami a high-five.

“Such Misfortune.” mumbled Touma behind a slow face-palm. Perhaps out of the three of them, he might have been the only one noticing that other students were looking upon their conversation with either a sense of bemusement, or perhaps thinking ‘what the (insert appropriate expletive) are they going on about?' And realizing that, by association with these two characters, his status was being thus set regarding his high school experience, he had good cause for bemoaning his current position.

 

It was literally anyone’s guess where this debate might have gone, if it had proceeded further. Suddenly, Tsuchimikado and Aogami became silent as they noticed Seria approaching (even Aogami with his eyes shut), her pace seemingly quickening as she spotted Touma. Touma had his back turned to the approaching third-year female student, so he was quite unaware of her approach, yet noticing their going quiet, asked his companions the reason for the sudden silence.

Seemingly reaching her destination, Seria called out with a smile: “Kamijou-kun.”

Touma started, then turned around to see her, suddenly saying: “Ah, … Kumokawa-san?”

With a slight pout sprouting on her face, Seria replied: “Oi; technically, that should be Kumokawa- _sempai_ , …” – but in the next instant, her pout changed to a sly grin, as she moved a bit closer to Touma, before continuing: “... but just for you alone, I’ll make an exception.”

Jaws dropped almost immediately at that last statement; not only Tsuchimikado’s and Aogami’s, but practically everyone present, even as a collective gasp echoed throughout the immediate vicinity.

Touma, recovering from her approach, spoke quickly: “Uh, sorry about that, Kumokawa … _sempai_. But seriously, it had completely slipped this Kamijou-san’s mind completely that you also attend this school.”

To which, Seria replied, still sporting a sly grin: “That’s all right … for now the key thing is, you made it here. You do realize that your sempai, among others, expects great things of you, so you will prove my expectations right ... won’t you, Kamijou-kun.”, reaching out to rest a hand on Touma’s shoulder.

More jaws dropped and the collective gasp escalated in volume, even as Touma, with a gulp, responded: “Uh, … yes, of course.”

“Well, then, we’ll no doubt run into each other again at some point. Do your best, Touma-kun.” were Seria’s parting words as, now with a dazzling smile, coupled with a polite nod of her head, she turned away to leave through the main gate.

Behind her, a strange and rather hostile atmosphere had started to brew in the vicinity of the main gate. If one were to observe the proceedings, Kamijou Touma was last seen surrounded by males from both his class and others, with certain less-than-pleasant comments filling the air:

“Oi, what the hell’s was THAT all about, you bastard?”

“Even after that egg incident today, the Beauty-Sempai came this way and was apparently looking for you … a first-year, of all people!”

“That was Beauty-Sempai … THE Beauty-Sempai … AND why does she seem rather familiar with you, Kami-yan!”

“Kamijou … that it! It was you who came here during the Ichihanaransai, last year! You had like two dozen girls from all years trailing after you, up and down the School … you monster!!”

“Wait, … I’m certain it was at least three dozen!”

The responses and reactions of the majority of male students in the vicinity began to mix together in a steadily rising cacophony of displeased voices … although if one paid attention, they could hear a voice crying out: “Such Misfortune!”

Even as she went her way, a noticeable skip in her step and seemingly suppressing a giggle, Seria thought: “Even if I don’t reveal it to you right now, Touma-kun, … I know my final school year will be very interesting … very interesting, indeed.”

_*End of Flashback.*_

 

With that, Seria answered the little girl with a beaming smile, possibly the first genuine smile she’s had for some time: “Not to worry, … Kamijou Touma-kun is just fine.”


End file.
